Future Generations
by calico118
Summary: A tragic accident leaves GLaDOS to raise the daughter of her former test subject. Can she and the child adjust to this new life style? No pairings or language, just the fact that Caroline is Chell's mother. Please R&R!
1. new format chapter 1

She had feared it. She had feared it from the day she'd moved here. And here it was, happening right before her very eyes. Amy had a very tight grip on her shirt, and she was running to the car as fast as she could.

"Honey," she heard her husband say while she was putting Amy in the car."Where do you plan to go?" His voice was swimming in panic and worry. She took one look at him and knew right where she was going.

"Mark," she said, trying not to choke on her own words "we have no choice." She got in the drivers seat of the car and quickly started it. Mark walked up to the window and put his head in.

"I think you should stay there too." He said, looking straight and deep into his wife's eyes, "just until this is over."

"No." she protested, "I need to be here. Plus I can get some weapons where I'm going, I'll bring them back and we will have more of an advantage."

"Chell, if any thing happens to you I will never be able to live with myself." He said, now slightly annoyed with his wife's stubbornness.

She, not hearing what he is saying, said back "I'm going to leave Amy and then I will be back soon. Stay alive at least until then, ok?" He was very reluctant, but nodded. She drove off and almost broke the speed barrier doing it.

"Mommy," a small voice from the backseat cried, "Mommy, I'm scared.".

"It's going to be ok. Mommy will handle this." Chell replied, though she was not convinced herself.

They drove, in silence for what seemed like hours (even though the facility was only about 15 minutes away.) Chell could only think about how long it had been. After she was let out of Aperture, she had enrolled in a college, where she met Mark. Not one month into it, she began having a strange emotion. It wasn't sadness, or worry; it was a longing, but for what? She had told herself that she could never EVER miss that homicidal manic of an AI! But she did. So she had gone back, and went back weekly for the next 2 years. The last time she saw her was when Amy was born, and never again. Amy was now 4, and had never met nor heard of her. At that moment, Chell's train of thought was broken by her car hitting a bump, resulting in her hitting her head against the roof of the car.

Amy saw this and yelled out "Mommy, are you ok?" in a worried tone.

"Mommy's fine dear. She just hit her head a little." Chell's head did hurt a little, but she was too focused on the task at hand. She looked down at the gas gauge only to see that she had enough gas to get home, but not enough to go the rest of the way to the facility. She figured that it wasn't that far away, and shut the car off.

"Where are we?" Amy chimed in from the back seat. Well, they WERE in a middle of a wheat field not to far form Aperture Laboratories, but saying that would just spark more questions from Amy. Chell just ignored the question. While she was getting Amy out of the car, it all started to sink in again. How much danger her husband was in, how much danger her friends were in. Once she got Amy out, Chell started running, no, SPRINTING towards the old shed. She saw that it was not far, but with every step, it seemed to get further. The wheat surrounding her kept whipping her face, and Amy's grip grew tighter on her shoulder (in her other hand Amy held her teddy bear). She started to wonder if GLaDOS would recognize her. Well, her hair was still in that carelessly put-in ponytail, as was Amy's, and she hadn't changed that much from the last time she was here. As soon as she made it to the shed she started banging her fists on the door. She didn't know why she was putting so much force into it; its not like GLaDOS had not let her in before. But, in her state of panic, all of her energy was put in to wanting in. The door opened and once inside she could see that the elevator was coming up. Yep, she remembered her. The elevator opened and she stepped inside, it made a loud "CLANK" noise as it started its decent. Now, Amy's hand was so far dug into her shoulder that Chell was sure she was going to start bleeding in a minute.

"Amy," Chell said, "Would you please release some of your grip on mommy's shoulder." Though being as terrified as she was, she only griped harder. Chell sighed and took Amy off of her shoulders and held her in her arms. She didn't know if GLaDOS was angry at the fact that she hadn't come in a while, so Amy wasn't going to leave her sight.

The elevator came to an abrupt halt and opened to face a long, cold hallway. This hallway Chell knew to well, as it held many memories for her (some good, some bad, but memories all the same). As she started down the hallway, she could feel the cameras following her as she walked, but she didn't look. Amy did, however, and strung her arms tightly around her mother's neck.

Chell walked into the large, unadorned room to find exactly what she expected…_her_. Still hanging there, and who-knows-what was going through her brain when she looked at Chell and Amy.

"Well," she said, with that same tone in her voice that she had always had, _always _"look who it is. After all this time you finally managed to drag yourself down here and say hello. You know, it been a very long time. I could have easily deleted you from my memory banks and not have known who you were just now. Then what would have happened when you just marched your self down in here?". She was expecting Chell to respond with one of her usual comebacks (after Chell had gone to that "speech therapy", the two had always poked fun at each other)

"I need your help." Chell said in a voice that was so cold the sun probably froze over. GLaDOS picked up the stress in her voice almost instantly.

"What is it? What's going on?" GLaDOS said (with a little too much care in her voice for her liking).

"My town is being attacked," Chell said. She hated having to say that, because she knew for the past few months that she might have too. "By some people who have been threatening our town for a while now."

"Oh, I see." The AI said. She wasn't exactly sure where the former test subject was going with this.

"Everyone is fighting to try to save it, and it isn't safe for Amy." Chell said. GLaDOS looked over at Amy, which made Amy bury her head into her mothers shoulder, but not out of shyness, and Chell could now feel Amy trembling. "Please let Amy stay here, just until this is all over."

So THAT'S where she was going with this. Amy was now looking up at her mother, and whined out a small "Mommy….".

"WAIT! You want ME to watch after a child?" GLaDOS said with a tone somewhere between sarcasm and shock. Chell didn't say anything, though she did nod. "Fine then. But you're staying too." GLaDOS said as if she was stating a true fact.

"GLaDOS," Chell said, very calmly "I have to go. They need me there. Please watch over Amy.".

"_She's doing it again_" GLaDOS thought "_whenever she REALLY wants something, she'll give you a few reasons and then ask again. Where did she pick that up?". _GLaDOS' silent thought must have been taking a while (a while being 3 seconds) because Chell opened her mouth to say something but GLaDOS cut her off. "Fine, I'll watch her. But you better be fast.". A small, very fake smile came across Chell's face.

"Thank you." She said. Amy's eyes widened as she realized that her mother was putting her down on the floor. Amy was now sitting down looking up at her mother, but Chell was looking up at GLaDOS. "Now, may I please have my portal gun and a few turrents?" Chell asked, very seriously.

Normally GLaDOS would have responded with "Why should I give YOU any of MY resources?" But given the current events, she made a panel rise up with the gun and 3 off-line nano-turrents. Chell walked over and grabbed the gun and nano-turrents.

She walked back over to where Amy was, bent down, hugged her and said "Mommy will be back soon. I love you.". Chell got up to leave when she felt a small hand grab the back of her ankle.

"Mommy…" a small voice chimed, "don't go.". You could hear it in her voice that she was crying. And hearing her daughter say that almost made Chell cry too, but she knew that if she did Amy wouldn't be able to be consoled. Chell turned around and got down to Amy's level. She put her hands on Amy's shoulders and looked straight into her tear-filled eyes.

"Sweetie," she said, taking her hand and putting it on Amy's cheek, "Listen, mommy has to go right now. So I need you to be a good and brave girl, ok?" The look in Amy's eyes showed that she still wasn't convinced, "Amy, she will take good care of you. I promise it will be ok. Now, I need you to be a brave big girl and please do this for me." Amy turned around to GLaDOS, and then back to her mom and nodded. "That's my girl." Chell said with a small smile. GLaDOS was convinced that, if she were human, she would go over there and smile at Amy the same way that Chell did, but she couldn't, so she just hung there, awkwardly staring.

Chell kissed Amy on her forehead, stood up, looked over at GLaDOS with an I-trust-you-but-if-you-try-anything-I-will-kill-you look, and walked out. With every step she took, the more guilty she felt. How could she? How could she leave her only daughter, the only blood relation she had (ok, there's Caroline, but she's not technically living), with the person who tried to kill her SEVERAL times? Her only hope is that Caroline would not let GLaDOS kill her. But at the same time, she didn't believe that GLaDOS would try to kill her. She just, didn't. Something was telling her that Amy would be fine. She could still hear Amy's quiet sobbing echoing throughout the hallway, and wanted more than ANYTHING to turn around and cradle her in her arms. But she knew it wasn't safe for her out there, not now. So she had to just keep walking, her tears unstoppable.

Back in the chamber, GLaDOS was getting the elevator to take Chell back to the surface, and the only thing that was on her mind was, "what now?" She had a child, a small, terrified child. She saw Amy still facing the door her mother left out of, slightly crying. What does she do now? She had dealt with humans plenty of times, but never a CHILD! She quickly started pulling out files with videos from the daycare center, but to no avail. All of the videos had the answer, but every one involved having to go and actually hug and cradle the crying child. Which was kind of impossible for her, being a huge dangling-from-the-ceiling AI and all. She let out a frustrated sigh that made Amy stop cold. Amy slowly turned around to look at her, and clung to her teddy bear with all of her might. GLaDOS made a note to herself to do research on why children had so much attachment to such a useless thing.

"Ok then. It seems that you will be here for, most likely, the rest of the night." GLaDOS finally managed to say, Amy just looked up at her in awe of how big this thing was. Even though she was only about 49 feet tall, Amy thought that she was about 1,000. "So, you will need a place to sleep. I will just get Atlas and P-body to bring up a bed." On the screen behind GLaDOS was video surveillance of them testing. Both GLaDOS and Amy's attention went to that screen.

GLaDOS said over the intercom "attention all testing robots, we-oh, look, that's just you two. Good, now go into the hospitality room and bring back a bed." The two robots just looked at each other confused and then back at the camera. GLaDOS sighed and streamed them the way to the hospitality room. "There," she said, in a I-can't-believe-I-have-to-go-out-of-my-way-for-you tone, "Now you know where it is. Now go." The robots just stood there. "NOW!" GLaDOS yelled. The bots slammed into each other when she said that, and fell on the floor. Amy saw and giggled a little. The two robots ran off and Amy seemed to calm down a little bit. Amy was now looking around the room, trying to take everything in. But there wasn't that much.

"Hum," Amy said in a very quiet and timid voice, "who was that?". GLaDOS turned to her, which scared Amy a little, as she put her teddy bear up to her face. GLaDOS made another note to herself to research why children had so much attachment to those things, yet offered them up in a second.

"Well," GLaDOS said, "that was Atlas and P-body. Their two testing robots that were made specify for testing. If you notice Atlas being slightly," she paused, thinking of a word she could use for him that a child would be able to understand, "not as good, it's because humans designed him. P-body is all mine, which is why she is so much better." GLaDOS slightly gloated.

"Oh. I see." Amy said, even though she really didn't. "So, if their names are Atlas and P-body, what's yours?" Amy asked, tilting her head slightly.

"GLaDOS." She said, in her matter-of-fact way.

"That's a cool name!" The little girl said, getting excited. GLaDOS noted that when she smiled like that, she had her mothers smile.

"T-thank you." GLaDOS said, not really sure how to respond to that. At that moment, two panels popped up from the other side of the room and Atlas and P-body walked in, carrying a cot. "Just put it down over there." GLaDOS instructed, gesturing beside her. The two put the bed down and looked over at Amy, and back at GLaDOS. "Yes, it's a human. You two can go back to the hub now. We'll pick testing back up in an hour." GLaDOS said. The two bots just looked back at Amy. Amy smiled and waved at them, they waved back at her before GLaDOS let out a fake cough. The two bots walked back out of the panels.

Amy looked over at the bed and then walked over to it. "Is this my bed?" she asked.

"Yes," GLaDOS answered, "and you've had a long day, I suggest you make use of it." Amy crawled into the bed and got under the covers.

"I can't go to sleep." She said, putting her head down on the pillow.

"Why not?" GLaDOS asked, suspecting it was something childish that was keeping her from going to sleep.

"Its to dark. I need a night light." GLaDOS was right. GLaDOS made the top panels of the room pop out to make a light blue glow throughout the room. Amy slightly whispered a "wow.". She was very tired, and she knew that her mom would come back in the morning, but she kind of hoped it wouldn't be till later. This place was cool and she wanted to go look around. She imagined all of the cool things she would do as she quietly fell asleep.

It was now 8:00 in the morning and Amy was still sleeping. All night GLaDOS had heard her quiet breathing. Her chamber was filled with the sound of it, and it was odd because usually the only sound was the sound of her talking to the robots (which was pretty much like talking to herself). She very quickly streamed the local towns newspaper to her main frame. And, of course, the front-page headline was "LOCAL TOWN ATTACKED. MANY LIVES LOST.". There was a list off every one who had died, and, let her tell you, it was big. GLaDOS knew that the town was not that big and that it would have been more time conservative if they just listed the people who lived. The first name she came across who she knew was Mark. "Oh no." GLaDOS thought. "Chell is going to be heart broken. When she comes back I'll make sure to-

What?

What's that?

No, that can't be right.

It must be some mistake.

That can't be her name.

It must be a typo.

No.

Not her.

Not her best friend.

**A/N**

**Me: WOW! This chapter turned out WAY longer then I thought. I mean, a LOT longer. But I hoped you all liked it! It was so much fun to write a Portal fanfic. This is my first portal fanfic but not my first fanfic over all. I hope you all liked it and I will try to get chapter 2 out soon!**

**Kate: you're not going to drop this story to, are you?**

**Me: oh no not YOU! *Sigh* everyone, this is Kate; she's from a VERY old fan fiction that I stopped a VERY long time ago. She's like my own personal Caroline…. the person who won't go away no matter HOW many times I delete her! **

**Kate: You practically murdered me!**

**Me: I did not!**

**Kate: did to!**

**Me: oh…. just…shut up and eat your cake! . anyways, Please review and sub. :D see you next chapter!**

**Kate: See you!**

**Me: uh, no, you will not be there.**

**Kate: try and stop me!**

**Me:….I hate you so much.**

**Kate: ok everyone bye bye!**


	2. OLD FORMAT PLEASE GO TO CHAPTER 3

She had feared it. She had feared it from the day she'd moved here. And here it was, happening right before her very eyes. Amy had a very tight grip on her shirt, and she was running to the car as fast as she could. "Honey," she heard her husband say while she was putting Amy in the car. "Where do you plan to go?" His voice was swimming in panic and worry. She took one look at him and knew right where she was going. "Mark," she said, trying not to choke on her own words "we have no choice." She got in the drivers seat of the car and quickly started it. Mark walked up to the window and put his head in. "I think you should stay there too." He said, looking straight and deep into his wife's eyes, "just until this is over." "No." she protested, "I need to be here. Plus I can get some weapons where I'm going, I'll bring them back and we will have more of an advantage." "Chell, if any thing happens to you I will never be able to live with myself." He said, now slightly annoyed with his wife's stubbornness. She, not hearing what he is saying, said back "I'm going to leave Amy and then I will be back soon. Stay alive at least until then, ok?" He was very reluctant, but nodded. She drove off and almost broke the speed barrier doing it. "Mommy," a small voice from the backseat cried, "Mommy, I'm scared.". "It's going to be ok. Mommy will handle this." Chell replied, though she was not convinced herself.

They drove, in silence for what seemed like hours (even though the facility was only about 15 minutes away.) Chell could only think about how long it had been. After she was let out of Aperture, she had enrolled in a college, where she met Mark. Not one month into it, she began having a strange emotion. It wasn't sadness, or worry; it was a longing, but for what? She had told herself that she could never EVER miss that homicidal manic of an AI! But she did. So she had gone back, and went back weekly for the next 2 years. The last time she saw her was when Amy was born, and never again. Amy was now 4, and had never met nor heard of her. At that moment, Chell's train of thought was broken by her car hitting a bump, resulting in her hitting her head against the roof of the car. Amy saw this and yelled out "Mommy, are you ok?" in a worried tone. "Mommy's fine dear. She just hit her head a little." Chell's head did hurt a little, but she was too focused on the task at hand. She looked down at the gas gauge only to see that she had enough gas to get home, but not enough to go the rest of the way to the facility. She figured that it wasn't that far away, and shut the car off. "Where are we?" Amy chimed in from the back seat. Well, they WERE in a middle of a wheat field not to far form Aperture Laboratories, but saying that would just spark more questions from Amy. Chell just ignored the question. While she was getting Amy out of the car, it all started to sink in again. How much danger her husband was in, how much danger her friends were in. Once she got Amy out, Chell started running, no, SPRINTING towards the old shed. She saw that it was not far, but with every step, it seemed to get further. The wheat surrounding her kept whipping her face, and Amy's grip grew tighter on her shoulder (in her other hand Amy held her teddy bear). She started to wonder if GLaDOS would recognize her. Well, her hair was still in that carelessly put-in ponytail, as was Amy's, and she hadn't changed that much from the last time she was here. As soon as she made it to the shed she started banging her fists on the door. She didn't know why she was putting so much force into it; its not like GLaDOS had not let her in before. But, in her state of panic, all of her energy was put in to wanting in. The door opened and once inside she could see that the elevator was coming up. Yep, she remembered her. The elevator opened and she stepped inside, it made a loud "CLANK" noise as it started its decent. Now, Amy's hand was so far dug into her shoulder that Chell was sure she was going to start bleeding in a minute. "Amy," Chell said, "Would you please release some of your grip on mommy's shoulder." Though being as terrified as she was, she only griped harder. Chell sighed and took Amy off of her shoulders and held her in her arms. She didn't know if GLaDOS was angry at the fact that she hadn't come in a while, so Amy wasn't going to leave her sight.

The elevator came to an abrupt halt and opened to face a long, cold hallway. This hallway Chell knew to well, as it held many memories for her (some good, some bad, but memories all the same). As she started down the hallway, she could feel the cameras following her as she walked, but she didn't look. Amy did, however, and strung her arms tightly around her mother's neck.

Chell walked into the large, unadorned room to find exactly what she expected…_her_. Still hanging there, and who-knows-what was going through her brain when she looked at Chell and Amy. "Well," she said, with that same tone in her voice that she had always had, _always _"look who it is. After all this time you finally managed to drag yourself down here and say hello. You know, it been a very long time. I could have easily deleted you from my memory banks and not have known who you were just now. Then what would have happened when you just marched your self down in here?". She was expecting Chell to respond with one of her usual comebacks (after Chell had gone to that "speech therapy", the two had always poked fun at each other) "I need your help." Chell said in a voice that was so cold the sun probably froze over. GLaDOS picked up the stress in her voice almost instantly. "What is it? What's going on?" GLaDOS said (with a little too much care in her voice for her liking). "My town is being attacked," Chell said. She hated having to say that, because she knew for the past few months that she might have too. "By some people who have been threatening our town for a while now." "Oh, I see." The AI said. She wasn't exactly sure where the former test subject was going with this. "Everyone is fighting to try to save it, and it isn't safe for Amy." Chell said. GLaDOS looked over at Amy, which made Amy bury her head into her mothers shoulder, but not out of shyness, and Chell could now feel Amy trembling. "Please let Amy stay here, just until this is all over."

So THAT'S where she was going with this. Amy was now looking up at her mother, and whined out a small "Mommy….". "WAIT! You want ME to watch after a child?" GLaDOS said with a tone somewhere between sarcasm and shock. Chell didn't say anything, though she did nod. "Fine then. But you're staying too." GLaDOS said as if she was stating a true fact. "GLaDOS," Chell said, very calmly "I have to go. They need me there. Please watch over Amy.". "_She's doing it again_" GLaDOS thought "_whenever she REALLY wants something, she'll give you a few reasons and then ask again. Where did she pick that up?". _GLaDOS' silent thought must have been taking a while (a while being 3 seconds) because Chell opened her mouth to say something but GLaDOS cut her off. "Fine, I'll watch her. But you better be fast.". A small, very fake smile came across Chell's face. "Thank you." She said. Amy's eyes widened as she realized that her mother was putting her down on the floor. Amy was now sitting down looking up at her mother, but Chell was looking up at GLaDOS. "Now, may I please have my portal gun and a few turrents?" Chell asked, very seriously. Normally GLaDOS would have responded with "Why should I give YOU any of MY resources?" But given the current events, she made a panel rise up with the gun and 3 off-line nano-turrents. Chell walked over and grabbed the gun and nano-turrents. She walked back over to where Amy was, bent down, hugged her and said "Mommy will be back soon. I love you.". Chell got up to leave when she felt a small hand grab the back of her ankle. "Mommy…" a small voice chimed, "don't go.". You could hear it in her voice that she was crying. And hearing her daughter say that almost made Chell cry too, but she knew that if she did Amy wouldn't be able to be consoled. Chell turned around and got down to Amy's level. She put her hands on Amy's shoulders and looked straight into her tear-filled eyes. "Sweetie," she said, taking her hand and putting it on Amy's cheek, "Listen, mommy has to go right now. So I need you to be a good and brave girl, ok?" The look in Amy's eyes showed that she still wasn't convinced, "Amy, she will take good care of you. I promise it will be ok. Now, I need you to be a brave big girl and please do this for me." Amy turned around to GLaDOS, and then back to her mom and nodded. "That's my girl." Chell said with a small smile. GLaDOS was convinced that, if she were human, she would go over there and smile at Amy the same way that Chell did, but she couldn't, so she just hung there, awkwardly staring.

Chell kissed Amy on her forehead, stood up, looked over at GLaDOS with an I-trust-you-but-if-you-try-anything-I-will-kill-you look, and walked out. With every step she took, the more guilty she felt. How could she? How could she leave her only daughter, the only blood relation she had (ok, there's Caroline, but she's not technically living), with the person who tried to kill her SEVERAL times? Her only hope is that Caroline would not let GLaDOS kill her. But at the same time, she didn't believe that GLaDOS would try to kill her. She just, didn't. Something was telling her that Amy would be fine. She could still hear Amy's quiet sobbing echoing throughout the hallway, and wanted more than ANYTHING to turn around and cradle her in her arms. But she knew it wasn't safe for her out there, not now. So she had to just keep walking, her tears unstoppable.

Back in the chamber, GLaDOS was getting the elevator to take Chell back to the surface, and the only thing that was on her mind was, "what now?" She had a child, a small, terrified child. She saw Amy still facing the door her mother left out of, slightly crying. What does she do now? She had dealt with humans plenty of times, but never a CHILD! She quickly started pulling out files with videos from the daycare center, but to no avail. All of the videos had the answer, but every one involved having to go and actually hug and cradle the crying child. Which was kind of impossible for her, being a huge dangling-from-the-ceiling AI and all. She let out a frustrated sigh that made Amy stop cold. Amy slowly turned around to look at her, and clung to her teddy bear with all of her might. GLaDOS made a note to herself to do research on why children had so much attachment to such a useless thing.

"Ok then. It seems that you will be here for, most likely, the rest of the night." GLaDOS finally managed to say, Amy just looked up at her in awe of how big this thing was. Even though she was only about 49 feet tall, Amy thought that she was about 1,000. "So, you will need a place to sleep. I will just get Atlas and P-body to bring up a bed." On the screen behind GLaDOS was video surveillance of them testing. Both GLaDOS and Amy's attention went to that screen. GLaDOS said over the intercom "attention all testing robots, we-oh, look, that's just you two. Good, now go into the hospitality room and bring back a bed." The two robots just looked at each other confused and then back at the camera. GLaDOS sighed and streamed them the way to the hospitality room. "There," she said, in a I-can't-believe-I-have-to-go-out-of-my-way-for-you tone, "Now you know where it is. Now go." The robots just stood there. "NOW!" GLaDOS yelled. The bots slammed into each other when she said that, and fell on the floor. Amy saw and giggled a little. The two robots ran off and Amy seemed to calm down a little bit. Amy was now looking around the room, trying to take everything in. But there wasn't that much. "Hum," Amy said in a very quiet and timid voice, "who was that?". GLaDOS turned to her, which scared Amy a little, as she put her teddy bear up to her face. GLaDOS made another note to herself to research why children had so much attachment to those things, yet offered them up in a second.

"Well," GLaDOS said, "that was Atlas and P-body. Their two testing robots that were made specify for testing. If you notice Atlas being slightly," she paused, thinking of a word she could use for him that a child would be able to understand, "not as good, it's because humans designed him. P-body is all mine, which is why she is so much better." GLaDOS slightly gloated. "Oh. I see." Amy said, even though she really didn't. "So, if their names are Atlas and P-body, what's yours?" Amy asked, tilting her head slightly. "GLaDOS." She said, in her matter-of-fact way. "That's a cool name!" The little girl said, getting excited. GLaDOS noted that when she smiled like that, she had her mothers smile. "T-thank you." GLaDOS said, not really sure how to respond to that. At that moment, two panels popped up from the other side of the room and Atlas and P-body walked in, carrying a cot. "Just put it down over there." GLaDOS instructed, gesturing beside her. The two put the bed down and looked over at Amy, and back at GLaDOS. "Yes, it's a human. You two can go back to the hub now. We'll pick testing back up in an hour." GLaDOS said. The two bots just looked back at Amy. Amy smiled and waved at them, they waved back at her before GLaDOS let out a fake cough. The two bots walked back out of the panels.

Amy looked over at the bed and then walked over to it. "Is this my bed?" she asked. "Yes," GLaDOS answered, "and you've had a long day, I suggest you make use of it." Amy crawled into the bed and got under the covers. "I can't go to sleep." She said, putting her head down on the pillow. "Why not?" GLaDOS asked, suspecting it was something childish that was keeping her from going to sleep. "Its to dark. I need a night light." GLaDOS was right. GLaDOS made the top panels of the room pop out to make a light blue glow throughout the room. Amy slightly whispered a "wow.". She was very tired, and she knew that her mom would come back in the morning, but she kind of hoped it wouldn't be till later. This place was cool and she wanted to go look around. She imagined all of the cool things she would do as she quietly fell asleep.

It was now 8:00 in the morning and Amy was still sleeping. All night GLaDOS had heard her quiet breathing. Her chamber was filled with the sound of it, and it was odd because usually the only sound was the sound of her talking to the robots (which was pretty much like talking to herself). She very quickly streamed the local towns newspaper to her main frame. And, of course, the front-page headline was "LOCAL TOWN ATTACKED. MANY LIVES LOST.". There was a list off every one who had died, and, let her tell you, it was big. GLaDOS knew that the town was not that big and that it would have been more time conservative if they just listed the people who lived. The first name she came across who she knew was Mark. "Oh no." GLaDOS thought. "Chell is going to be heart broken. When she comes back I'll make sure to-

What?

What's that?

No, that can't be right.

It must be some mistake.

That can't be her name.

It must be a typo.

No.

Not her.

Not her best friend.

**A/N**

**Me: WOW! This chapter turned out WAY longer then I thought. I mean, a LOT longer. But I hoped you all liked it! It was so much fun to write a Portal fanfic. This is my first portal fanfic but not my first fanfic over all. I hope you all liked it and I will try to get chapter 2 out soon!**

**Kate: you're not going to drop this story to, are you?**

**Me: oh no not YOU! *Sigh* everyone, this is Kate; she's from a VERY old fan fiction that I stopped a VERY long time ago. She's like my own personal Caroline…. the person who won't go away no matter HOW many times I delete her! **

**Kate: You practically murdered me!**

**Me: I did not!**

**Kate: did to!**

**Me: oh…. just…shut up and eat your cake! . anyways, Please review and sub. :D see you next chapter!**

**Kate: See you!**

**Me: uh, no, you will not be there.**

**Kate: try and stop me!**

**Me:….I hate you so much.**

**Kate: ok everyone bye bye!**


	3. New emotions

**A/N**

**Me: ok every one, first off THANK YOU for all the awesome reviews! I was so surprised with all the feedback I got and hope I can get some more with this chapter. I saw that ya'll were frustrated by the format and I fixed it in this chapter. Hope easier for ya'll to read!**

**Kate: you wouldn't have that problem if you had listened to me…**

**Me: ok, A. you never said any thing about that. B. YOUR not supposed to be here.**

**Kate: yeah, get over it and get over it.**

**Me: anyway I want to apologize on her behalf, when she said, "your not going to drop this story too, are you?" She was VERY wrong. I love writing this story and have NO plans to stop. I would also like to point out that I changed the description of the story a little. It now says, "P.s. lots of fluff" and this chapter is why. Lots of Fluff in this chapter but it probably won't be like in the next few chapters. Oh, and just so you guys know, Amy has long, red hair (her dad) and bluish-gray eyes (her mother). Ok, I'll shut up now so you guys can read the story. :D**

Amy wasn't counting, mostly because she could only count to 10, but GLaDOS was. And it had been 3 months, 7 days and 15 hours. 3 months, 7 days and 15 hours since both of their lives were turned upside down. Amy had gotten used to it, for the most part, but she stayed quiet most of the time. GLaDOS on the other hand was having a bit more difficult time with this. After all, she was practically a mother now. Amy still slept in GLaDOS' chamber and both of them liked it that way. As much as Amy liked going and exploring, she didn't want to be alone at night and GLaDOS wanted to have tabs on her at all times.

GLaDOS had decided to keep Amy here following Chell's untimely death. She had spent the first day thinking about whether or not to keep the child. Most of the things she thought of went along the lines of "If she stays here, how will she get a proper education?" or "if she leaves, where will she go?" GLaDOS had sorted all of that out and had pretty much figured out the rest of Amy's life. GLaDOS would teach her when she got to the right age and, if she wanted to leave, GLaDOS wouldn't make her stay. She would just highly recommend that she stay after the age of 18 of course, before that GLaDOS would have to make her stay in the confines of the facility.

One of the key players in this decision was what would happen to Amy if she did leave now. Chell had often told her about Mark's family and it very much sounded like NONE of them would stand up and take Amy, so she would most likely be put in foster care (GLaDOS never liked that man and had no clue what Chell saw in him). And knowing Chell that would be the LAST thing she would want for her daughter.

Amy was now in GLaDOS' chamber making a fort out of companion cubes, and GLaDOS was trying to get Atlas and P-body to leave the hub and stop playing rock-paper-scissors. It was a normal night for them.

"Hey, Aunt GLaDOS," Amy said, not looking up from her project. Amy had randomly started calling her "Aunt GLaDOS" one day and it kind of stuck. Technically, because Caroline was inside of GLaDOS, she was more like Amy's grandmother. But she MUCH preferred Aunt to Grandma.

"Yes, Amy?" GLaDOS said, trying to hide the frustration in her voice.

"How come they don't listen to you? Do they not like you?" Amy replied bluntly, still not looking up. GLaDOS let the top of her white casing come over her optic a little to give the impression that she was furrowing her brow.

"Isn't it a little past your bed time?" GLaDOS said as if it where coming out between her teeth.

"Its only 9:00." Amy protested, now turning around.

"Amy," GLaDOS said, trying to calm down. "You just pulled that number out of nowhere. It is actually 10:15, 45 minutes past your bed time." Amy frowned at that statement; it sure FELT like it was 9.

"Can I stay up, just five more minutes?" Amy pleaded, her eyes getting big and her bottom lip sticking out.

GLaDOS was reluctant, but sighed and said, "fine, but get your sleep wear on and go to brush your teeth."

Amy's smile got big as she said, "Thanks Aunt GLaDOS, you're the best!" Amy ran over to her bed to pick up her pajamas and ran to the bathroom right outside the chamber to get dressed. GLaDOS never worried about her getting lost going there because all you had to do was go down the hallway and make a left, and Amy had gone there a million times before.

In the exchange with Amy, GLaDOS had almost forgot about her two testing robots, _almost. _After Amy left the room GLaDOS turned her focus back to them. They where still playing that same stupid game.

"Really?" She said, sounding like she couldn't care less. "We're STILL on this. Seriously, Amy doesn't even like that game." She left out the part that Amy didn't even know how to play; there was no need for them to know that. "Now, if you two don't stop doing that same idiotic, HUMAN like thing, I will take both of you offline and you two will NOT come back! Now GO!" She hissed angrily. That threat was, of course, hollow because then she would have no one left to test on. But, again, no need for them to know that.

The two robots then quickly hurried off to the next testing track. GLaDOS sighed a sigh of relief, now the only thing she had to deal with was-

"I'm back!" Amy said from the back of the room. Her "pajamas" were just a large, dark blue Aperture Science T-shirt GLaDOS had found while sending her robots to go look for stuff, and it pretty much swallowed the petite girl. Amy yawned and GLaDOS mentally smiled at her.

"Oh, I thought you said you weren't tired." GLaDOS said in a very mother like voice (she didn't know where that voice had come from).

Amy replied, now rubbing her eyes "I'm not." She looked over at her bed and then at GLaDOS. "But…maybe I'll go lay down." Amy walked over to her bed and grabbed her teddy bear, holding it tightly. "And," she started, "maybe you could make my night light ready, you know, for later."

"Right, later." GLaDOS said, playing along. She made the top panels of the ceiling pop out like she did every night, and Amy climbed into the bed.

"Now," Amy said sternly, "I'm NOT going to sleep. I'm just laying down, ok?"

"Why would I think any different?" GLaDOS said. She probably could have put more effort into sounding convincing, but she just wanted to get back to testing, and she knew Amy would be out any minute.

It was silent for a moment, and GLaDOS couldn't help but let her mind to go back to a couple of years ago, when she was woken up and testing resumed. It all seemed like it was just yesterday when she saw that face, terrified, standing over that little moron who was babbling something about "AAAAAAA". If someone had told her that she would be raising Chell's daughter then, she would have neurotoxin-ed Chell to death, or put a bunch of turrets in front of her, or shot a laser at her, ANYTHING to kill her so that wouldn't happen. But now…it was different. What happened? Was it her? Was it Caroline? Yes, it has to be Caroline.

"_There you go, blaming me again."_

A voice in GLaDOS' brain chimed.

"_You know you like it better this way."_

"Why would you say that?" GLaDOS replied, wishing that Caroline would go away. When Amy showed up, she had been putting her two-cents in on EVERYTHING.

"_It is true, don't waste your time trying to tell me different."_

GLaDOS turned to Amy, who was knocked out in her bed.

"_I told you."_

Its not like Caroline was COMPLETELY wrong. GLaDOS did have a liking towards the child, and thought Amy was a lot like her mother in many ways. But also, whenever Amy walked too close to a laser, or walked on a catwalk that might or might not be sturdy, GLaDOS felt fear for a reason she did not know.

"_Its called love. You had it for my daughter, and now for Amy."_

Love? How could she, the superior to all of Aperture Science, be having such a…a…human emotion. She was not about to admit that she had let her self come so close to her second most hated species, so she one again blamed it on Caroline and looked back at her tests. These were thoughts for another day. After all, there was science to be done.

Amy sat up in her bead and yawned. "Good morning Amy." GLaDOS said, turning to see Amy rubbing her eyes awake.

Amy softly replied "good morning." she looked around, still trying to wake up. "What time is it?" she asked sleepily.

"10:00. Why? Do you have a meeting to go to?" GLaDOS replied, quite sarcastically. Amy smiled slightly at that, even though GLaDOS thought she really didn't get it.

Amy finally got up and grabbed her clothes from under the bed. She went out to the bathroom to get changed, and when she cane out, she was wearing the same thing she was wearing when she got here. Amy gotten a little bigger since she got here, and her clothes were starting to look a little tight to GLaDOS. The village above would send down food, each time she'd placed an order. So maybe next time she ordered GLaDOS would include new clothes too. There wouldn't be questions, the humans would never come down they'd had heard too many rumors. Humans were so cowardly.

Even when Amy wasn't exploring the facility she still had stuff to do. GLaDOS had sent Atlas and P-body down to the child daycare center to get some old toys and things for her to do. She then took a weighted storage cube and took the "weighted" part out, which made it just a hollow box, and stored the random toys and what not's in it.

Amy walked over to her not-so-weighted weighted storage cube and grabbed out some paper and crayons. She then walked over in front of GLaDOS, sat down, and started coloring. She did this for a moment before looking up at GLaDOS and asking, quite frustrated, "Aunt GLaDOS, how do you draw an S?"

GLaDOS had done research by watching old tapes from the daycare center and knew that if you give a child the answer right away, they will never learn (plus, it was just common sense). "Well," she started to reply, "Do you know what a snake looks like?" Amy nodded "well then, try to draw a snake, just really skinny." It took Amy a few tries, but she finely got it.

"I did it!" she exclaimed very happily. It then dawned on GLaDOS that she didn't know if Amy had even gone to a preschool, or daycare or anything like that.

"Amy," GLaDOS said, who was still smiling at her achievement, "did you ever go to a daycare or a preschool? Somewhere where they took care of you when you mother was at work?" Amy's smile quickly faded as she looked up at GLaDOS and nodded.

"Yeah." She said sadly. "But I didn't like it."

"Well why not? Some of today's greatest scientists attended a pre-school. It is a wonderful foundation for a good education." GLaDOS said broadly. Amy's confused expression reminded her that she was speaking to a 4 year old, and all that Amy cared about pre-school was if they had good apple juice or not. "So why didn't you like it?" GLaDOS said, toning it down a bit.

"No one liked me." She replied, frowning. "All of the girls said that their moms told them not to play with me, and the boys kept pulling my hair."

GLaDOS would have asked why all of the girl's mothers said that, but she already knew why. Chell often told her that no one in the town ever looked at her twice, because they thought she was crazy from being down here for so long. They must have passed that information down to their daughters. She also knew that tugging a girls hair was the equivalent to flirting at that age, but she was NOT about to tell Amy that.

"I see." GLaDOS said in that same motherly tone. Amy's smile came back almost as quickly as it went away.

"But I'm here now, so there's nothing to worry about, right?" Amy said cheer fully. "So," she started up again "Do you want to see what I drew?"

"You're done?" GlaDOS asked, a little surprised.

"Yep!" Amy replied. She turned the picture around so that GLaDOS could see. It was (a very rough) picture of GLaDOS and what appeared to be Amy. "See, that's you, and that's me." She pointed to each of them in the picture as she said that, "and if you look at me, I'm wearing one of those long white coats that scientists wear."

"Oh," GLaDOS said, still a little surprised that Amy would draw that for her, "why is that?"

"Because," Amy said, smiling big, "When I grow up, I want to be a scientist, just like you!"

And just like that, GLaDOS felt everything in her stop for a moment. And she admitted it, Caroline was right; GLaDOS was deeply, truly in love with this child. The surprising thing was, she didn't even mind. In fact, she kind of liked it, and she vowed to never, EVER let anything happen to this child, no, to Amy.

**A/N**

**Me: and that's chapter 2 for ya! I warned you about the fluff, didn't I?**

**Kate: Elizabeth, I don't think ANYONE could have predicted that much fluff.**

**Me: are you saying it's a bad thing?**

**Kate: depends…**

**Me: well, I'm thinking that the next few chapters won't have this much fluff. I just needed to establish the relationship between GLaDOS and Amy. The next few might be more lenient towards comedy and a little drama…but mostly comedy and family. **

**Kate: whatever you say…so, when are you going to put me in this story?**

**Me: pardon?**

**Kate: you heard me.**

**Me: hum, how about NEVER!**

**Kate: what? You owe me!**

**Me: owe you? For what?**

**Kate: Oh like you don't know! "Make her stay in the confines of the facility", That's totally stolen from my story!**

**Me: It was not!**

**Kate: was to!**

**Me: ug, why are you even here?**

**Kate: because I can be.**

**Me: whatever. Anyway guy's, reviews are awesome. I will get the next chapter up soon and guess who will NOT be in it!**

**Kate: oh you think you're so funny…**


	4. Moving forward

**A/N**

**Me: Oh, hi. So, how are you holding up? Because I'm A BLOODY MORON!**

**Kate: Yeah, what else is new?**

**Me: Ok, so, I was trying to fix chapter 1 (the format) by going into Fanfiction's chapter editor... **

**Kate: Go on…**

**Me: …and I fixed it so I went to the edit story options…**

**Kate: yes yes…**

**Me: And I didn't want to lose the reviews so I planned on just putting the better formatted chapter in front of the bad formatted chapter, but I then realized that there was a "replace chapter" button right under that! I am sssooooo sorry about that!**

**Kate: *facepalm* Nice going E ...You know this never happened with MY story. **

**Me: You're not helpful…. Anyway, this is the REAL chapter 3! Hope ya'll like it! **

Amy had finally figured out, with a little help from GLaDOS, which catwalk went the farthest without stopping, and today she planned to run it. It was 40 yards long and she had tried to run it before. She always ran out of breath. Amy had been practicing for the past few days now and GLaDOS had agreed to time her. Amy lined her self up with one of her back feet on the lower rail. She stared forward with a determined look in her eyes.

"You ready?" Amy asked, not looking up from her goal.

"In 3," GLaDOS said over the loudspeaker, "2," Amy arched her back a little, "1." And she was off. GLaDOS had to admit that her way of running was pretty good. She started out slow and got faster near the end. GLaDOS told her to do that and she couldn't help but feel pride over the fact that Amy had listened to her advice.

Well, Amy soon made it to the end of the catwalk and, when she did, she was looking elated.

"I did it!" Amy exclaimed at the end of the hall. She was jumping up and down when she looked to her left and saw a long hallway. When she looked closer she could see that there were doors all along the left wall. She had never been here before. That's what she liked about living here, there's always new stuff to find!

"Amy?" GLaDOS voice chimed.

Amy looked up. "Yeah, I'm here. So, what was my time?"

"7 seconds" GLaDOS replied.

"Dang, I thought I did better than that. Try again?" Amy asked.

"I think that's a good enough time for today. Maybe you can try again another day. Right now I'd like you to come to the chamber. You need fluids and nourishment." Amy sighed and headed back, but not before she got a good look at that hallway.

Back in the chamber, Amy had water and some small turkey sandwiches by her bed (Amy had to pre-make them for herself, no one else could).

She sat down and began eating before looking up at GLaDOS and asking, "Hey, Aunt GLaDOS, at the end of the catwalk there was a hallway with some doors. What is it?"

GLaDOS thought for a moment before replying, "Remember how I told you that instead of the robots testing, we had humans?" Amy, mouth full, nodded.

"Well, that's where they would sleep for a long time. A very long time."

"Do the rooms still have that stuff in them that makes you fall asleep?" Amy asked.

"Makes you? Where did you learn that?" GLaDOS asked, a little shocked.

"You. Just now." Amy replied, a sly little smile crossing her face.

"Smart." GLaDOS said sarcastically. "And to your question, no. Only one room worked after I was shut off, and that one had a little 'unfortunate' incident." Amy knew that GLaDOS had been off line for a while, she just didn't know why. GLaDOS saw the curious, scheming look in Amy's eye. "I know what your thinking, and don't. They're old and probably not steady. I want you to stay away from them, got it?"

"I know, I wasn't planning on that any way" Amy lied. "Anyway," she stood up. "Thanks for the food, I think I'm going to go walk around now." When She started to walk out, GLaDOS put some panels up in front of her path.

"Forgetting something?" GLaDOS said, not turning around. Amy sighed and turned around to grab her plate and water cup. "Good, now don't forget to put those in the kitchen. And remember, I can ALWAYS see you." GLaDOS said as she put the panels down, letting Amy pass. One thing GLaDOS had on a real mother was that, while Mothers could just threaten their children with the "eyes-in-the-back-of-the-head" thing, GLaDOS actually had eyes . . . everywhere.

Amy put the dishes in the sink and was now trying to think of something to do. She knew she couldn't go looking at those cool rooms; her Aunt GLaDOS was too alert right now. Maybe later she would try to get in.

Later that night, Amy was back in GLaDOS' chamber updating the map she had been working on. GLaDOS wouldn't give her one because she knew her curious nature, and there were plenty of places here she didn't want Amy to go.

Once Amy had completed her updates, she headed over to her bed, grabbed her pajamas, and went off to go do her nightly routine. Upon returning, Amy climbed into her bed was sitting cross-legged, staring up at GLaDOS. For a moment, GLaDOS didn't notice, but she finally did turn around.

"What?" GLaDOS asked her. Now there was rarely a moment when Amy wasn't talking, so the fact that she was just sitting there quietly scared GLaDOS a little.

"I'm bored." Amy said flatly.

"Well, why don't you use the bed for its intended purpose and, oh, I don't know, sleep?" GLaDOS said sarcastically. GLaDOS liked the fact that Amy was older because now the two of them made fun of the other . . .a lot. Neither of them minded.

Amy wasn't satisfied with her aunt's answer. "Whenever I used to come in here it was fun. Now its boring." Amy said a little disappointed. GLaDOS didn't have a response to that, so Amy kept talking. "I mean it's not you. It's just that I've seen more of this place and this room has become boring." Amy was very smart for her age. Her teacher was the smartest thing alive.

"Oh really." GLaDOS said, very smugly. She COULD tell Amy how this room was the backbone for all and everything Aperture Science, and how she saw every little and big thing that happened. Amy had already heard it all and was not very impressed.

"So I was wondering, " Amy said, starting to rock back and forth. "If maybe I could possibly . . . on the off chance . . . that maybe you could be so kind as to…"

"JUST SPIT IT OUT ALREADY!" GLaDOS yelled at her.

"That maybe I could have my own room!" Amy said, pulling the blanket over her face. She'd said it so fast it almost sounded like one word.

"What? You want what?" GLaDOS said. That was the LAST thing she expected Amy to say. She finally gathered herself enough to say "And HOW do you expect me to do that?"

"Well, if those rooms don't have all that bad stuff in them any more, then why don't we make one of those my room?" Amy said hopefully.

GLaDOS was surprised that she had given it this much thought, but she still didn't like the idea. "Amy, I can't help with this project and you're too young to do it yourself." GLaDOS stated. "Atlas and P-body would have to do it and it would take days at that."

"I can wait." Amy said persistently.

"It's not that," GLaDOS said. "If they're doing that; think about what they WON'T be doing."

Amy didn't understand WHY GLaDOS couldn't go without testing for a few hours let alone a few days, but she did know that when GLaDOS didn't test on them, she was VERY on edge. It took Amy a moment but she finally got it.

"Ummm" Amy thought for a moment, "If you let them do that for me, I'll . . . stay only in the parts of this place that you want me to be in. At least for the next 3 weeks." Normally GLaDOS would have said "You're not supposed to be in there anyway!" but she had kind of given up on completely controlling Amy at this point. All she could do was stop her before she got too close to something she didn't want her getting in to, but Amy hardly ever listened. That deal was too good to pass up.

GLaDOS sighed heavily and said, "FINE! But I will remember your promise, got it?"

Amy's smile widened across her face. "Thanks Aunt GLaDOS!" Amy said, very happy with her achievement.

"Yes, I know." GLaDOS said, very frustrated. "Now, you need to go to sleep."

Amy nodded, then she put her head down, but she didn't go to sleep for a while. She couldn't help thinking about what her new room would be like.

The next day Amy went straight to those rooms to see which one would be hers. She didn't go in because they weren't steady, but just looking in them was fine by her. There were 5 rooms and all of them looked the same: old, dusty, and over grown. Amy finally settled on the one nearest the catwalk.

Over the next few days the room was completely transformed. The two robots were getting everything they could out of the room and cleaning it. Amy was looking through the facility for any thing she wanted to put in HER room. GLaDOS had said, "Take anything you want, I didn't care." Amy took that to heart. GLaDOS was going through test-withdrawals, which was pretty much her version of a mid-life crisis; and Caroline was doing her best to calm GLaDOS down.

All and all, the week was filled with a lot off different emotions. Most of all, everyone wanted it to be over quickly for their own reasons.

And then it was.

Amy had decided early on that she didn't want to see the room until it was finished. And now that it was, she LOVED it!

It had the same layout as it did before; however, with the new design, the room was almost unrecognizable. If you walked in a little and turned to the right, there was a small but functional bathroom. If you went into the actual room, the bed was replaced with a twin bed that had storage underneath. Next to that there was a desk and chair that faced the wall-long window that looked over a pit. The window faced GLaDOS' chamber, but all you could see of it was an outer black wall. In the other corner of the room was her not-so-weighted weighted storage cube, and next to it was her companion cube. Where the walls once had a dingy old mural, was now painted white (apparently, dried conversion gel makes great paint). Her closet had her clothes and her nightstands were REAL weighted storage cubes.

Amy loved every bit of it and couldn't believe that this was HER room. She finally had a place to go that was her own, and private.

After Amy was done looking at her new room, she ran outside and stood in front of the nearest camera.

"THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU!" Amy said to it, jumping repeatedly.

"You're welcome." GLaDOS said in a voice that sounded very relieved that this week was over. "Now, I have my test subjects and you have your room. Go enjoy it."

"I will!" Amy said, running back into her room.

While GLaDOS was relieved that this week was over, and happy that Amy was happy, she couldn't help but feel sad that Amy was gone. She knew that Amy was right there, and that she would probably come back into the chamber a lot, but she would miss the quiet breathing at night she had become so accustom to. She knew that Amy was growing up and that this was good for her. So she went back to testing her robots and tried to ignore the feelings. She had her testing robots back; Amy had her new room and was happy, that was all that mattered to her.

**A/N:**

**Me: Everyone, I have *cough cough* some bad news *cough*. I think someone put *achoo* some ground up moon rock in something I ate. *Cough cough* I don't know how much longer I'm going to make it. I will say this though, *cough* if anything happens to me, don't let Kate take over my story. **

**Kate: Elizabeth, you caught a cold, I think your going to live.**

**Me: Well, my bed ridden-ness has given me some time to write more.**

**Kate: Whatever you say, just stay away from me!**

**Me: Thanks for your support, NOT! **

**Kate: Well maybe I would be more caring if I had a job!**

**Me: You're not going in the story Kate. Give it up.**

**Kate: Whatever. **

**Me: Anyway, once again sorry for the chapter mishap. Oh, and to the person who commented, "****make a chapter devoted to Chell's fight and how she died." I DO plan to do that just not till later, and Sparky16, LOL that's happened to me too many times to count! Review and I'll see you guys in the next chapter! Bye bye!**

**Kate: Later-*achoo*…oh no…**


	5. Lesson Learned

**A/N:**

**Me: Well, *sniff* It seems I don't have to suffer alone anymore.**

**Kate: Yeah, *cough cough* talk about unwanted re-gifting! *achoo***

**Me: I feel like I'm gunna' die, but nothing stops a fanfiction writer, right?**

**Kate: Yeah, whatever. *Cough* I'm going to bed.**

**Me: Huh, what do you know, a silver lining! You're so drained you can't make fun of me!**

**Kate: Leave me alone… and that's not a good enough reason to be sick!**

**Me: Well, um, I beat my best time in Portal…I guess.**

**Kate: *achoo* I thought you were supposed to be writing!**

**Me: Nothing wrong with a little break.**

**Kate: Just…. oh, I'll say something later. Just read the story.**

Amy was sitting on a hospital bed in the infirmary of Aperture Science. She was still trying to stop crying and wipe away her tears at she same time.

"I TOLD you not to go in there!" GLaDOS' voice said.

"I-I'm sorry!" Amy finely managed to say through her tears.

"Maybe next time you'll think before you wander off into a test chamber?" GLaDOS said, very mad at the fact that Amy didn't listen to her half the time. Did Amy think that GLaDOS just made up these rules for no reason? Well, they DID have a reason, and THIS was why.

"Am I gunna die?" Amy asked, her cry now more of a whimper.

GLaDOS sighed, "No, you're not going to die. But, that medical laser you came in contact with could carry some sort of infection." GLaDOS made a table rise up in the middle of the room with a small cup of clear medicine. "Here, this will get rid of any infection."

Amy walked over to it and picked it up. She took one whiff of it before holding it away from her face and sticking her tongue out.

"Amy…" GLaDOS' voice said over the loud speaker, very impatiently.

Amy was slow, but she finely managed to get the medicine into her mouth . . . only to spit it right back out. The serum was the worst thing Amy had ever tasted, and she was pretty sure that her Aunt GLaDOS was trying to poison her.

GLaDOS sighed as the table sunk into the floor so she could get prepare another dose of it. "You know," GLaDOS said to Amy "This was NOT easy to convert into a drinkable form."

"What did it used to be?" Amy asked, looking up at a camera.

"Needle." GLaDOS said flatly. Amy's eyes widened at that word. "Now," GLaDOS said, the table was rising up with a new cup of medicine "take it."

Amy picked up the cup and started to drink it. She got all the liquid in her mouth before her face cringed up.

"Now swallow." GLaDOS said demandingly. Amy did and when she was done, stuck her tongue out and made a gagging noise. "Good girl." GLaDOS said, a little sarcastically, "Now run off and don't get yourself hurt any more."

Amy nodded as she walked out the door. She walked down a few hallways before coming to her room. She went inside and sat down on her bed, looking over the bandage on her forearm. She sighed as remembered GLaDOS saying "that has to stay on for 2 weeks to heal". It was already starting to annoy her because it was really scratching her arm, and she couldn't itch it because it was on really tight. Amy fell back onto her bed and sighed.

"Now what can I do" Amy said to herself. She knew that Aunt GLaDOS was probably still mad at her for doing that, so it would probably be best if Amy stayed in her room.

Back in GLaDOS' chamber, she couldn't help but think why. Why would Amy do that? She wasn't even allowed in the test chambers! By the time she noticed Amy was in there, she was already close to the laser. GLaDOS' thoughts went a little like, "She won't do it. She's too smart to try it. She knows not to touch that." Her thoughts were all broken by a blood-curtailing scream, followed by hysterical crying. She forgot that this was Chell's daughter she was talking about, so she made a note to double lock all the test chambers.

The next day Amy had almost completely forgotten about what happened, as she was now walking around without a care in the world. She happened to pass the test chamber she had been hurt in and stuck her tongue out at it. "_Stupid room_" She thought, _"well, I will __**not**__ be going in there again." _She walked past in stride, only to come up on another test chamber. She was looking down through a window at the top of the room. She saw that there were no lasers or turrets, just a button and those flingy things she had seen Atlas and P-body use. Also, there were only two platforms, one by each door. The rest of the room was filled with that brown and green gooey stuff, but Amy figured that it wouldn't be that big a deal.

She quickly hurried down and quietly went through the entrance. She peeked her head around the corner to see that the cameras in the room were facing down and were limp. In Amy's vocabulary, that meant off. She slowly entered the room and looked around. All in all, this room was kind of boring.

GLaDOS had seen Amy leave her room, and now she couldn't see her on any of her cameras. The AI was sort of in a panic mode and finally resorted to yelling Amy's name out of the loud speaker.

"_What if she went into one of the old test chambers?" _Caroline said, in just as much panic as GLaDOS was, which wasn't helping.

"But I made sure to double lock all the doors, there's no way she could have gotten into one of those!" GLaDOS accidently answered out loud. She couldn't put all the cameras on at once, but she could turn the microphone on in each of them. She was looking through the chambers two at a time when she heard the "snap" of an Aerial Faith Plate. She quickly pinpointed the sound to test chamber #5, where the camera came on in a tenth of a pilosecond.

Amy had seen the flingy thing and walked over to it. She didn't know exactly how it worked, just that when you step on it shoots you really far. She decided to see just how sensitive it was and touched it. Right as her hand made contact, it sprung up very quickly, making a very loud "SNAP" that echoed throughout the whole chamber. Amy looked up at the camera and saw it spring to life instantly. She quickly looked around for a place to hide, but it was no use. She tried to run over to the door, but it had closed. _"That's odd," Amy_ thought, _"I could have sworn it was open a second ago."_

GLaDOS couldn't come to words to describe her anger and panic right now. In fact all she could get out was "Amy, are you ok?".

Amy sighed and looked over at the camera. "Yes, I'm fine." She said, slowly backing away from the door. "Can I leave now?" She asked, tilting her head a little.

All of GLaDOS' anger turned to a panic at that point.

"_What? What is it?" _ Caroline said, her panic picking right up.

"I can't open the door." GLaDOS said, trying every code she could think of to get the door open.

"_You rule this entire place! Why can't you do something as simple as opening the door?"_ Caroline yelled. Normally GLaDOS would be insulted by what Caroline said, but she was barely listening.

"The door locked itself when that Aerial Faith Plate launched. The only way to open it is for the test to be solved!" GLaDOS yelled right back, still trying to hack it, but having no luck.

Amy was still down there and was starting to get scared. "Aunt GLaDOS?" Amy winced, looking at the camera. "Will you please let me out?". GLaDOS heard her and tried to say something to comfort her, even though she was in a full-blown panic.

"It's ok. I'll get you out of there." GLaDOS said to her, "Don't go anywhere near the edge, got it?" Amy nodded at that, but GLaDOS could tell by the look on her face that Amy was terrified.

They had another problem. The way to solve this test was to shoot yourself over to the other side of the room, push the button, a cube would drop onto some other Faith Plates, you had to time it perfectly to catch the box, catch it, shoot yourself back to the other side of the room, and put the cube on the button. Well, that could break both of Amy's legs because she didn't have long fall boots. Without the portal gun's grappling feature, she would just slam into the box and fall into the water (not water, definitely not water). Amy was too young to have either of those things and was, in a short, trapped.

GLaDOS couldn't even talk her through it. She was frantically looking through every protocol in her system for anything that would help. A loophole, anything that said SOMETHING about her being able to help someone, but the rules were clear. What she didn't see was anything about not being able to change the chambers once the subject was in them. That gave her an idea.

"Amy," GLaDOS said over the speaker. Amy was sitting down with her knees up to her chest, "do not go any where near the edge right now, I'm going to get you out of here." And with that she started draining the goo out. When the room was empty, panels came up over the gap leading to the other side of the room. Amy waited for GLaDOS to tell her to go, but of course GLaDOS couldn't say, "Walk over there," because that fell under the "helping" category. Amy did look up at the camera and GLaDOS was able to make it sort of nod. Amy got up and walked over to the other side of the room.

When Amy got there she didn't know what to do. The door didn't open and all there was here was a large button. GLaDOS made the camera zoom in and out, which made a whirring sound, trying to get Amy to look. Finally, Amy looked at it. The camera looked over to the button and back at Amy. Amy pointed to the button and looked at the camera, which made a nodding motion again. She walked over to it and stood on it, which made the door open. When the door was open, GLaDOS hacked it to stay open. Amy walked through and got on the elevator that led up to the same level as her room. When she got out, GLaDOS' voice came over the loudspeaker.

"Room. Now. I will call you in here after I have a moment to think." She hissed. Amy timidly walked to her room. She knew she was in big trouble this time.

All of GLaDOS' panic quickly turned to anger and disappointment. "Why would Amy do that AGAIN?" GLaDOS had thought that, since Amy had gotten hurt, she wouldn't try that again. But she did, and it could have ended way worse then it did. "Doesn't she know that she could have died?" GLaDOS thought to herself.

"_You need to do something about this."_ Caroline said, apparently having a mood swing from panic to calm.

"Well, what can I do now?" GLaDOS replied, "I've double locked the doors and made the cameras active around them. What more can I do?"

"_You're focusing too much on the direct fixing of the problem. You need to be focusing on the overall solution." _Caroline said, very mother-like.

"What are you getting at?" GLaDOS asked, very curious about this.

"_You need to lay down the law with Amy. You need to punish her." _ Caroline replied, very flat and to the point.

"Punish her?" GLaDOS said, shocked at the fact that Caroline was saying that punishments were in order, "and how do you propose I do that?"

"_She's 6, almost 7, and testing her limits. You need to make sure she knows what they are. As for what you should do, that's up to you." _ Caroline said, again, flatly.

"So, You'll annoy me all day and night with your opinions on things and never shut up when I need you to, but when I actually want your help you abandon ship?" GLaDOS snapped at her, hoping to get a good reaction.

"_Welcome to motherhood." _Caroline replied cheerfully. And with that, she stored herself in the back of GLaDOS' brain like she always did when she was done talking. GLaDOS was on her own on this one.

15 minutes later GLaDOS called Amy into her chamber. Amy walked in very slowly and looked up at GLaDOS. To Amy, it looked like she had gotten bigger.

"What you did today was very wrong." GLaDOS said sternly, "I have told you many times to stay out of the test chambers because you could get hurt. Why did you go in there?"

"Because," Amy started, now looking down to avoid eye contact, "I thought it looked fun. I'm sorry, it will NEVER happen again."

"Well I can assure you that they are not." GLaDOS said, surprisingly calm, "I am very disappointed in you right now Amy. I thought that getting burned would teach you a lesson and keep you out, but apparently I was wrong." She paused and waited for Amy to say something, but she didn't, so GLaDOS continued "For the next 2 weeks I want you in bed an hour earlier." To that, Amy sprang her head up.

"An hour?" She exclaimed. To GLaDOS an hour was an hour, but for Amy it was more like a century.

"Maybe that will teach you to stay out of places your not supposed to be." GLaDOS said, again very sternly, "And if you ever disobey me again, I will assume I can't trust you and you will be moved back in here with me."

"But Aunt GLaDOS," Amy started to protest.

"No buts. Now, go get ready for bed. Its almost your bedtime." GLaDOS interrupted her. Amy looked at her very angrily and stomped out of the room.

"_You did the right thing."_ Caroline suddenly said.

"Well, look who's back." GLaDOS said, with extreme sarcasm.

"_She might be angry now, but she'll get over it."_ Caroline said, trying to comfort her. GLaDOS would never admit it, but she hated punishing Amy. Especially when it made Amy hate her.

"What makes you think I'm worried about that?" GLaDOS said. Caroline smiled before disappearing again. GLaDOS sighed out loud. "I swear that woman is going to drive me insane. Oh wait, too late."

**A/N:**

**Me: Yay, finally done! With both the story and the cold!**

**Kate: Me too!**

**Me: The only difference is that nobody cares about you.**

**Kate: Oh, haha, very funny. May I remind you that I have my strength back now?**

**Me: You know your not allowed to use it on me. Anyway, this was Chapter 4 and I have to thank GreatZero for the inspiration for some of this chapter. I had the beginning all mapped out (the medicine part) but I didn't know where to take it from there. You gave me the idea for her sneaking into a test chamber so thanks for that. :) Also, sorry it took me so long. The better half of the last few days I felt horrible and was in NO mood for writing. **

**Kate: Elizabeth doesn't wanna' write? Well, that's a first.**

**Me: Its not that I didn't want to write. It's just that one of the side effects of this cold must have been a serious case of writers block, because I had it BAD!**

**Kate: Maybe now that you have your writer's un-block you could add a certain character with green eyes to . . .**

**Me: NO! Anyways, please review and subscribe! (Sorry, I don't know what the fanfiction word is for story alert. I mostly speak YouTube). Ok bye bye!**

**Kate: Later!**


	6. Birthday Surprise Part 1

**A/N:**

**Me: YAY! Finally working on chapter 5!**

**Kate: Good for you. By the way, when I said, "Good for you", it was in major sarcasm quotes. **

**Me: Geez, why do you abuse me?**

**Kate: Because I can.**

**Me: Anyway, very long chapter this time! And sorry, when I said done with the story and the cold, I meant to say chapter. This story is nowhere near over. Anyway, here's Chapter 5! **

"You really don't know?" The redheaded 9-year-old said.

"I have no clue." The AI said, faking every word.

"You don't know what tomorrow is?" Amy asked. The two had been at this for about 10 minutes now.

"Well I do know what day it is. Saturday, October 6th." GLaDOS said, matter-of-factly.

"Any significance of that date?" Amy said, starting to think that GLaDOS really didn't know what tomorrow was.

"Oh that's right!" GLaDOS said, "on that day in 1995, 51 Pegasi is discovered to be the first major star, apart from the sun, to have a planet orbiting around it! Very good Amy, I am proud of you for remembering that."

"NO! There's something ELSE that happened on that day, well, not in 1995, but something DID happen." Amy yelled, now slightly upset.

"I don't see what you're getting at." GLaDOS said flatly. If she were human, she would be having a hard time holding back a smile.

"SOMEONE was born about 10 years ago. SOMEONE who has been living with you for over 5 years! SOMEONE whose birthday you've celebrated every year but somehow managed to forget this year!" Amy yelled at her. The time for subtle hints was over.

"Amy, why would I care if its Atlas's birthday?" GLaDOS said, a little bit proud of herself for thinking of a comeback.

"IT'S ME!" Amy finally yelled, "Its MY 10th birthday tomorrow!" GLaDOS laughed at the girls un-necessary anger, that's when Amy's face went from annoyed to calm. "You knew the whole time, didn't you?"

"How could I forget, you remind me every five seconds?" GLaDOS said, surprisingly happily.

"I do not remind you every five seconds!" Amy said, turning her head away and slightly blushing.

"I think saying 'Is it my birthday yet? Is it my birthday yet?' every single day counts as reminding." GLaDOS said, again happily. Amy looked towards her and showed a small smile.

"So, what did you get me?" Amy said, very excited.

"You will just have to wait until tomorrow to find out, now won't you?" GLaDOS said.

"What time is it?" Amy wined.

"Its 5:00 now. Why?" GLaDOS asked, curious as to why Amy would ask such a random question.

"Then tomorrow is" Amy paused to do the math, "7 hours away!"

"Well you'll just have to wait, like you have for the past 10 years." GLaDOS said. She may give in to Amy's pace once in a while, but not this time.

"But those hours are like days when it's the day before your birthday! I'm not gunna make it!" Amy complained. Even from the point when she woke this morning, the seconds seemed to pass slower than normal.

"Somehow I'll think you'll manage." GLaDOS said sarcastically. Amy fell on the floor and stuck her tongue out, pretending to be dead. "Oh, look. Amy died." GLaDOS said jokingly, "I guess that means I won't have to give Amy her surprise for her birthday tomorrow." GLaDOS made the panel that Amy was laying on come up off the ground a little. "I guess I'll just take the body and leave it outside. It's a shame too, she was really going to like her present." Amy quickly sat up.

"I'm not dead! I'm not dead! Don't leave me outside!" She exclaimed. GLaDOS once again laughed, as did Amy.

Amy left to go play not long after that, and GLaDOS was alone with her thoughts. She did in fact have a good present for Amy. Last year she had gotten her a new bed set, the year before new clothes, and before that toys. Every previous birthday she had gotten help from Caroline. This year she had thought of something all on her own, WITHOUT Caroline. Amy was turning 10 years old, a DECADE, and GLaDOS wanted to make it special. The problem was she was racking her brain but couldn't think of anything other than the one gift.

"_I have an idea, if you're interested."_ Caroline said.

"Why would I want YOUR help?" GLaDOS said quite clearly.

"_Because, let's face it, you're out of ideas."_ Caroline said, cheerful as ever.

"I have an infinite capacity for knowledge, and your accusing me of having no ideas?" GLaDOS said to her, very annoyed at the woman.

"_Ok, then name one."_ Caroline said, smirking. That comment made GLaDOS stop for a moment. She analyzed all of Amy's personality to think of something to make the day special and was apparently taking to long, because Caroline randomly said, _"Make a cake."_

"I'm sorry, what?" GLaDOS said, very, VERY shocked.

"_You heard me. Amy would love it and it's the least you can do after all the cake drama with her mother." _Caroline said, quite sure of herself.

"I test humans. I have control of the entire facility. I can perform any science experiment at any time I please. I do NOT bake cakes! I thought we established that when Chell had her little episode." GLaDOS said sternly.

"_It would be for Amy, and I think she would love it!"_ Caroline said, a little _too_ excited.

"I wouldn't even be able to make one if I wanted to! We don't have everything here that we need!" GLaDOS exclaimed, even though she kind of did want to try it.

"_You do know we don't need fish shaped candies, fish shaped dirt, fish shaped solid waste-" _Caroline started to say.

"YES! Why would I listen to any of the things those idiotic cores said?" GLaDOS said, hating to remember the days where all she heard were voices.

"_Well, what are we missing then?" _Caroline said, even more excited then before.

"Fine, I'll make the cake!" GLaDOS finally caved, "But only for Amy!" Caroline was partly jumping for joy. GLaDOS couldn't understand what the woman's obsession was with this. She did know that it would probably make Amy happy (as she had never had cake before), so GLaDOS would do it for her.

Every time GLaDOS told Amy "no school," Amy took that as "sleep till noon." GLaDOS had given Amy the day off today because it was her birthday, so she woke up sometime around 10 or 11. Though when she did, she didn't even bother taking her pajamas off. She just ran straight to GLaDOS' chamber. When she got there, she couldn't stop the smile on her face.

"Hi." Amy sang, rocking back and forth on her feet.

"Well, look who finally got up. Why are you so excited this morning?" GLaDOS asked.

"Nice try Aunt GLaDOS, but your not fooling me this time. I know that, being as smart as you are, there's no way you could have forgotten that my birthday is today!" Amy said proudly.

"How did you get so smart? Oh, that's right. I'm your teacher." GLaDOS said smugly. Amy laughed a little before GLaDOS continued. "You have two surprises today."

"What are they?" Amy said so excited she was almost jumping out of her skin.

"Well I don't know. Why don't you go ask the kitchen?" GLaDOS said. Amy quickly ran off to the kitchen to find the same black-forest cake GLaDOS had promised so many test subjects long ago.

"Cake!" Amy yelled as she ran over to it.

"Happy 10th birthday, Amy." GLaDOS said as Amy happily started to cut the cake. It took all night and at least 12 (GLaDOS stopped counting after 8) tries to make an edible cake. By the look on Amy's face, she liked it.

"Thank you, Aunt GLaDOS!" Amy said, mouth full.

"You enjoy it. It's your birthday." GLaDOS said. She heard Caroline say _"Happy birthday."_ But GLaDOS made a point long ago that she was not going to be Caroline's speaker. Caroline was so stubborn she didn't want anyone speaking for her anyway, even if it meant never talking to anyone but GLaDOS.

GLaDOS had gotten Amy's second surprise ready in her room, and she had good timing because Amy was putting her dishes in the sink when she was done.

"Amy, you know how I said you had two surprises today?" GLaDOS asked. Amy smile got wider as she continued. "Why don't you go see your room?" Amy was out of the kitchen in a second. She ran very quickly towards her room, and when she got there, couldn't believe what she saw.

"No way!" She said out loud. Amy walked over to a computer sitting on her desk. GLaDOS had gotten one out of the old labs and repaired it. Now it was as good as new!

"Another thing," GLaDOS said over the intercom. Amy walked out into the hall to listen. "It has full internet access." Amy's smile got even bigger, even though GLaDOS didn't think it could. "But," She said, "Every thing you do on there goes through me. In other words, don't do anything that you don't want to explain."

Amy nodded, yelled, "Thank you!" And ran back into her room to use her new computer. The first thing she went to was the Internet. The homepage was automatically set to the Aperture Science website. _"Shudda' guessed."_ Amy thought. Then it dawned on her that every year her Aunt GLaDOS had done something for her birthday. She always got her a present and made her birthday special . . .but what about GLaDOS? When was _her_ birthday? Amy knew that GLaDOS wasn't technically born, but she still had to have a day when she got here! Amy decided that she needed to find out when that day was and do something for GLaDOS. It was the least she could do. Amy looked back at her computer, she thought that if there were any place to get info on that, this website would be best. Unfortunately, all the website had was a repeating video of a Christmas scene with a companion cube and sometimes a turret. She couldn't just go do a search on "When was the GLaDOS project started" because GLaDOS would know that something was up.

Amy grabbed her over-the-shoulder bag and, slowly and quietly, started sneaking out of her room. She didn't know why she was sneaking, the cameras followed her every move. It felt just cooler this way. She went straight to the room with all the cool books. Amy often came here to see if there were any books she wanted to read, but most of the books in here landed her in GLaDOS' chamber asking what some of the words meant.

Amy looked up at all the books to see if any of them said anything about "The GLaDOS project", but they were all just random science books. She should have known that they weren't going to keep the good stuff out here. But Amy did know where stuff like that would be. She ran out of the room and down a few hallways before she came to the office clearly marked "Cave Johnson." She tried to open the door, but it was locked. Luckily, she always carried bobby pins in her bag. After a moment of her own version of hacking a door, it opened and Amy crept inside.

The room was much larger than any of the others, and had lots of books lining the walls. The desk at the back of the room was large and made out of mahogany, and in front of it were two big chairs. The floor had a large rug that went from the entrance to the back wall. Amy walked past all the books and went straight to the desk. When she got to the back of the desk, she took a look around and noticed that there were no cameras in the room. She would have to work fast before GLaDOS noticed her absence.

She went digging through all the drawers trying to find something to use. In one of the drawers she found a manual for GLaDOS. She doubted this would have anything she needed, and was pretty sure that most of the information in there was outdated, but she put it in her bag for an interesting read later.

More poking around proved futile; she sighed and almost stood up when she saw a small switch under the desk. She reached under and pulled it, which made one of the book shelves slide back revealing a long, dark hallway. "Cool." Amy quietly said to herself.

She walked over to the doorway and poked her head through. It seemed safe so she walked in, only to find that the bookcase closed as soon as she did. Amy turned around quickly and tried to open it, but it wouldn't budge. _"How do I keep getting myself stuck like this?" _Amy wondered as she dug around her bag for a flashlight. She found one and looked around the hall. It seemed to go on forever and, again, no cameras. Amy figured that this was put in FAR before GLaDOS was built. She realized that there was no way to go but forward and started walking. You could hear water dripping, as this hallway was made almost completely of rock. Amy almost tripped a few times over uneven grounds, and nearly screamed her head off when she saw a spider. There was one side of Amy that was scared, 'what if she never found her way out of here?' And then there was a side that was completely excited and had dubbed this birthday the best one ever!

Amy finally made it to a room . . . at the same time her flashlight went out. The room was pitch black as Amy franticly looked for a light switch. Thank goodness, it had one. The florescent lights started coming on and the room lit up one section at a time. This room was all metal and looked like one of the laboratories. It had one rack of files, and in the middle was a metal table with five folding chairs around it. Amy walked towards the files to see what they were. The search was, she was making a note here, a huge success! All the files were about the portal project, the code "Lemon" project (she didn't really get that one), and, finally, the GLaDOS project. She opened up that file and skimmed through it until she found a date.

"There it is," she said out loud, "October 7th!" She got very excited as she realized that was tomorrow. She then took a moment to look around the room. Once again, no cameras. She wondered why they would have this room until it dawned on her.

"_Of course!"_ she thought, _"They must have built this room in case Black Mesa ever got in! This is where they kept all the important stuff so that they wouldn't find it! That's brilliant!" _Amy had heard many things about the rival company and, coming from GLaDOS, they weren't exactly _compliments_.

"_But,"_ Amy proceeded in thought, _"how come the manual was so easy to find?" _she dug in her bag and pulled out the manual. She flipped through it a little to see and all of it was FALSE! Like, "requires 4 AA batteries." Yeah, that's what it says. _"They must of put this one out as a decoy!"_ Amy thought. She almost put the manual down before she decided to keep it. It might be funny to see what else they came up with.

Now Amy had another problem. She wanted to leave but she couldn't go back through that hallway and end up at a dead-end. She looked around and saw a door in the corner. There was no other option so she went and opened it. There was a staircase leading up to what Amy saw was another door. She started walking towards it, making sure to close the door behind her. She walked up the stairs and slowly opened the door at the top. She peaked her head around and saw that there was a catwalk outside. She stepped onto it and closed the door behind her. From what she could see this was the same floor as her room. She saw a camera slowly pivoting towards her, and when it did see her, seemed to jump a little.

"Amy!" GLaDOS said, very surprised, "Where did you come from and where have you been?"

Amy was about to answer when she thought, _"What if I wasn't supposed to be in there?" _She knew that if she wasn't supposed to be in there, she would be dead. So Amy just shrugged, hoping GLaDOS wouldn't ask any more questions.

GLaDOS didn't have time to wonder where Amy had been; she was too excited about what she had done for Amy. "Never mind that." GLaDOS said, a phrase that she had never used in her entire life. "Do you know where office #15 is?" Amy nodded. "Good, go there." Amy, relieved that she didn't ask any thing else, started walking towards it. GLaDOS continued talking. "I decided a while back that today would be extra special."

"Uh huh." Amy said.

"And I wanted to do something myself." GLaDOS said. Amy was now near the office.

"Caroline helped you with the cake, didn't she?" Amy said happily, not surprised or upset in any way.

"Yes." GLaDOS said dryly, ruing the day she told Amy about Caroline. "Anyway, there was one more thing that I found today."

Amy was at the door to the office when GLaDOS said that. She stopped before entering. "You didn't have to get me anything else." She said, looking at the camera.

"I think when you see what it is, you'll know I had to." GLaDOS said. Amy walked in, her curiosity burning, to see a table with a framed picture on it. The picture had a woman holding a newborn baby and smiling at it. Amy knew the second she saw it that the woman was her mother. The baby was Amy.

Amy couldn't come to words at first. She hadn't seen any thing with her mother in it in so long. "H-how?" She finally managed to say.

"Going through old security tapes and I happened to pause at the right moment." GLaDOS said. She couldn't tell at this moment if Amy liked it or not.

"But I never came here before I was 4." Amy said, the words now coming out of her mouth without going all the way through her brain first.

"Actually you did. You were born here." GLaDOS said, surprised that this had never come up before.

"I was?" Amy said.

"Your mother never wanted to go to a hospital for her delivery. She happened to go into labor while down here one day and she didn't want to leave." GLaDOS said. She could still remember the day perfectly. It was the only time in her life she had felt so much panic and excitement at the same time.

Amy was still looking at the picture. Her mother was more beautiful then she remembered.

"Do you like it?" GLaDOS asked.

Amy grabbed the picture off of the table and smiled at it. "No." She said, "I love it."

"I'm glad." GLaDOS said softly.

"Can I keep it in my room?" Amy asked, not looking up.

"That's why I gave it to you." GLaDOS answered.

Amy probably said thank you a thousand times before she walked out of the office and back to her room. She put the picture on her nightstand and looked at it for a long moment. Out of everything she had gotten today, this was by far her favorite. She made a vow to herself to make tomorrow the best day GLaDOS had ever had. She didn't know what she was going to do; but it was going to be good.

**A/N:**

**Me: No.**

**Kate: but…**

**Me NO!**

**Kate: Why not?**

**Me: Well, if you want it from a writer's point of view, it's because this story and your story have nothing in common!**

**Kate: Yes they do!**

**Me: Name one.**

**Kate: Hum...what about the cold, depressing, prison-like place. How about that, hum?**

**Me: Yeah, still no. Oh, how long have you guys been here?**

**Kate: Who?**

**Me: The readers, Kate! So, this chapter is actually longer then chapter 1. There will be a part two coming soon. I am actually already working on it! **

**Kate: No, you're not.**

**Me: Well, once the people are reading this I probably will be! Anyway, hope you all liked it. Pop quiz! In chapter 2, GLaDOS said that her second most hated species is humans. What's her first? Anyone know?**

**Kate: Oh, oh, I know, I know!**

**Me: Comment what you think the answer is! Someone please get it, I don't what HER to be the winner.**

**Kate: YOU'RE SO MEAN! 0**


	7. Birthday Surprise Part 2

**A/N:**

**Me: Aaaannnddddd part 2!**

**Kate: That's it?**

**Me: What's it?**

**Kate: Your just going to say "aaaaaannnnnddddd part 2"? That's pathetic. And what took you so long?**

**Me: I just had a minor case of serious writers block, that's all. And what am I supposed to say?**

**Kate: How should I know?**

**Me: But you…and you just…and I…oh never mind! The answer to the "pop quiz!" In chapter 4 was, in fact *drum roll* birds! The first person to get it right was "Space core"! You're prize is…uh… the satisfaction of getting it right first?**

**Kate: Oh yeah, I bet he/she's REAL excited.**

**Me: Just, here's part 2 (short chapter, fluffiness abounds)!**

Amy had spent all day thinking of what she should do for GLaDOS' birthday. It was pretty hard to think of something, considering GLaDOS was one of the most powerful beings alive. But, Amy was 10 now, so she figured that she could come up with something.

Amy was sitting on her bed doodling as she thought of what to do tomorrow. She knew that GLaDOS did everything here (Lit. EVERYTHING) and that maybe she could help. But what could she do? It seemed to her that she wasn't allowed anywhere near anything, so she really didn't know what she could do. She then realized that she wasn't really paying attention to her drawing and had kind of just been letting her hand do all the work. She looked at her drawing and realized that she had drawn a test chamber. The thing was, she had never seen this chamber before. Her drawing skills had improved tremendously. GLaDOS called it a knack; Amy called it a hobby. She realized that she had drawn this without thinking much about it. It just…happened.

'_That's it!" _Amy thought, _"If GLaDOS likes my drawings so much, why not just draw something for her!" _She got excited because she knew she was on to something. _"But what could I draw?" _Amy thought, _"Is there anything she likes that is possible for me to draw?" _When she tried to think of what GLaDOS liked, all she came up with was:

Testing

Science

Those things were kind of impossible to draw. I mean, how can you draw _science_? So, that was out. She tried to think of anything else but the truth was…GLaDOS just didn't like many things. Amy could think of a lot of stuff that she DIDN'T like. Like birds, most humans, cores, birds, potatoes', Black Mesa, birds, and birds. The list could go on and on.

She decided that she should try to clear her mind by going to get a snack. To get to the kitchen from Amy's room she had to pass GLaDOS' chamber. Amy stopped out side of it and looked in. GLaDOS was facing the other way but one of her cameras must of seen Amy because she said, "Can I help you?"

Amy walked in and stood in front of GLaDOS. The gears in Amy's head had now begun to turn. She backed up and walked all around the room. She got about half way before GLaDOS started following her. Amy looked frustrated and she said very sternly, "Will you stay still for a minute?"

GLaDOS kind of jumped when Amy said that, as she was never really that stern. Amy made it back to the door and, when she did, smiled and yelled, "Don't go anywhere, I'll be right back!"

"_Where does she think I'm going to go?"_ GLaDOS thought to herself.

Amy came back in less than a minute and had paper and pencils with her. She sat at her desk, which was where she did her schoolwork. She got one of her textbooks out and opened it. She used her textbook to create a bearer between her paper and GLaDOS.

"What are you doing?" GLaDOS asked, hating it when Amy just started doing things without telling her first.

"Surprise." Amy said flatly, still observing GLaDOS. She started to draw something, but GLaDOS couldn't tell what she was doing. Every few minutes she would look frustrated and erase something, or crumple up her paper and throw it in the trash. GLaDOS knew the look on Amy's face was determined and stubborn or, as GLaDOS calls it, her "Chell" face.

Amy spent the rest of the afternoon in there drawing. At 8:30, she was finely done. Amy smiled at her accomplishment and held the picture to her chest, making sure GLaDOS couldn't see it.

"Are you done?" GLaDOS asked.

"Yes, but you don't get to see it until tomorrow" Amy said, starting to walk towards the door.

"Ok then. But it is 8:30, you should get ready for bed." GLaDOS said.

"But it's still an hour until my bed time, and it's my birthday so can I please stay up a little later tonight." Amy asked whining.

"I would agree, but I know that whatever I say doesn't matter, your just going to stay up anyway." GLaDOS said dryly.

Amy thought for a moment before smiling and saying, "Yep!" She then ran out of the chamber and went back to her room. She set the picture on her bed and smiled at it. It had taken her a while to draw a good portrait of GLaDOS, and it didn't help that GLaDOS kept moving.

Her finished product was a pencil drawing. It was really accurate too. She put her picture on her desk and got on the computer. She had hardly gotten to use it since she got it. Amy went on the Internet and soon realized… it was boring. So she gave up on that and decided to go play with the paint tool on the computer for a while. After a few hours of doing other things on the computer, she did finally crawl into bed. Amy didn't fall asleep, though. She just laid there, very excited for tomorrow.

The next morning Amy woke up early (early for her being 9:00) and was even more excited than yesterday. The only time she had ever celebrated a birthday that wasn't her own was her mom and dads, but she was only 3 then so they had to remind her. She looked over at the picture to make sure it was still on the desk and, sure enough, it was. She started feeling bad about the fact that yesterday GLaDOS had given her 3 gifts, but she was only giving her one. She decided to go get breakfast to see what else she could think of. She got to the kitchen when she noticed what a wreck it was! GLaDOS had told Amy many times to clean it up, but Amy always said 'in a minute'.

Amy sighed as she looked around the room. _"Better late then never,"_ she thought. Amy started cleaning the room, trying her best to please GLaDOS.

When GLaDOS looked through her cameras, she couldn't believe what she saw. "Is Amy… _cleaning_?" She said.

"I-I think she is!" Caroline said, just as astonished.

"But why is she doing that?" GLaDOS said. The first thing that came to both of their minds was, "What did she do this time?"

When Amy was done with that she ran back to her room to get her picture. She got it and walked back to GLaDOS' chamber. She wanted to look casual.

"Hey, Aunt GLaDOS," Amy started, "When's your birthday?"

"I'm an AI, Amy, I wasn't born." GLaDOS said, surprised at her question.

"Oh really." Amy said, her voice getting higher as she spoke. "But, when did you get here?"

"A long time ago, why do you ask?" GLaDOS said, now knowing that Amy was up to something.

"I know." Amy said with a sly smile.

"Ok, then when is it?" GLaDOS said, suspecting that this was just one of Amy's plots to get out of doing her schoolwork (not that she had any, today being Sunday and all).

"Today!" Amy said excitedly.

"Oh really? And how do you know that?" GLaDOS said, humoring the child.

"I may have done some research." Amy said, not willing to give any more information.

"So that's why you were cleaning the kitchen." GLaDOS said, now finding it in her memory banks that the "GLaDOS project" was in fact started on this date a very, **very** long time ago.

"Happy birthday!" Amy said as she turned the picture around for GLaDOS to see.

"Did you make that for me?" GLaDOS said, so surprised that Amy would do all that for her.

"Yep. I did it yesterday. Do you like it?" Amy asked excitedly.

"Amy it's amazing! How did you do that?" GLaDOS said, astonished at how good Amy had gotten at drawing without any instruction at all.

"It was easy really." Amy said, thinking nothing of it.

"I love it! Thank you, Amy!" GLaDOS said, convinced that this was the best day she had had in her whole life.

"Really?" Amy said, smiling. She walked over to her desk and pinned the picture on the backside that was facing GLaDOS. "There," she said, " Now it's always there!"

"It's beautiful, Amy, thank you." GLaDOS said with no sarcasm whatsoever.

"I'm glad you like it!" Amy said.

"_Wow."_ Caroline said.

"What?" GLaDOS asked.

"_I've never heard you complement anything."_ Caroline said.

"What are you talking about? I complement Amy all the time." GLaDOS said, annoyed at Caroline again.

"_Never with that much sincerity. Maybe the tin man really does have a heart after all."_ Caroline said jokingly.

"Ha ha ha" GLaDOS said dryly. "You may be quiet now."

"You ok?" Amy asked, wondering why GLaDOS had gotten quiet all of the sudden.

"Oh, yes I'm fine." GLaDOS said.

Amy shrugged. She didn't really get her Aunt GLaDOS sometimes. But it didn't matter to her; she loved GLaDOS and would do anything for her, as GLaDOS would for Amy.

**A/N:**

**Me: yeahhh short chapter.**

**Kate: has the well run dry?**

**Me: NO! This chapter was just hard to write! Amy was right, there really isn't much you can give GLaDOS.**

**Kate: I still think you could have done better.**

**Me: *sigh* ANYWAY since last chapter's "POP QUIZ" got so many responses, why not do another one? **

**Kate: whatever you say.**

**Me: ok then, how about this! In portal 2, when GLaDOS starts realizing that Caroline sounds familiar, what is the first thing GLaDOS thinks of how she knows her? Here's a hint, the answer is in the same line as "look, your doing a great job. Can you handle things on your own for a bit?" Good luck!**

**Kate: Make sure the next chapter is longer, ok?**

**Me: that is definitely going to happen!**

**Kate: ok see you all later!**


	8. The Birds

**A/N**

**Me: OMG I WANTED TO WRITE THIS CHAPTER SO BAD AND NOW I AM! SSSSSSSPPPPPAAAACCCCEEEE!WWWOOOHHHHOOOOOO! YYYEEEAAAAHHHH!**

**Kate: and that, my friends, is what happens when you give her excessive amounts of sugar. **

**Me: All joking aside, I have had this idea in my head probably ever since I started the story. And now it's happening! **

**Kate: ****warning****: this author is prone to over excitement.**

**Me: hehehehhehehe…****space****.**

**Kate: here we go again….**

**Me: anyway, the answer to the "POP QUIZ" in chapter 6 was *drum roll* She thought she killed her! The winner is Kingmoart35 AND AmayaWolfGurdain! Both of you won because Kingmoart35 answered the line first, but Amaya posted the specific answer that I was looking for first. So, you both got it right. Your prize is…cake!**

**Kate: and an extremely long chapter!**

It was a dreary November afternoon. Lance had just gotten out of school and was walking home. He did this daily; get up, go to school, go home, and try to make yourself invisible. The wind was sharp and cold, almost like it was trying to break through him. Today it made the wheat field appear to dance. Lance hardly ever looked across the street at the field, but today it seemed to call him. He stopped and stood facing it. The way it waved looked like it was calling to him, but he didn't dare enter. No one knew how long it went, or how tall it got in the middle. He stared at the wheat field, almost like saying 'sorry, but I can't come'. He sighed and walked away, no matter how bad it hurt him.

At the age of 10, Lance knew a few things about his home. Like how much it had changed in 6 years. The people had learned to keep their mouths shut.

He walked into his house to see Sara (his adopted "mother") on her computer working on some kind of document. She was always working, but she never told him what she was working on.

"I'm home." he said, putting his back-pack on the couch. Sara just ignored him. He walked up the stairs to his room. When he got there he threw himself on his bed. It was days like these that made him think of the battle that his little town had faced. It wasn't fair. They lost many people and a few of them were parents. Two children lost both of their parents, and Lance was one of them. His mother had died right after he was born, and his father died in the battle. Sara had taken him in a few months' after. These days, she had made it clear that she did not like him and made him feel like he was in her way.

Then there was a girl.

Her name was Amy. She had disappeared right before the battle. The only reason anyone remembered her is because her mother saved everyone. Before that, she was an alien, an unwanted, and an outcast. When she died, everything was different. She gave up everything for people who treated her like garbage. The town had decided not to go looking for Amy after Chell's death. They had decided that what ever Chell did with the child, it would be best not to disturb her. Lance knew it was because they didn't what to go where they knew Amy was. That's what he hated about this place. He wanted to leave, but that was impossible. Lance hoped the girl got a better life than he had.

"Um…451,486?" Amy asked.

"No. Lets try that again." GLaDOS said, starting to become frustrated, as they had been at this for 5 minutes now. "127 times 895 is…"

Amy took a moment to write out the problem. "Is it 113,665?" She asked hopefully.

"Correct." GLaDOS said, relieved that she got it.

"Sweet! Are we done now?" Amy asked hopefully.

"You still have one more subject." GLaDOS said matter-of-factly. Amy slammed her head down on the table.

"This isn't going to end!" She exclaimed.

"It's your favorite." GLaDOS said.

"Lunch?" Amy asked, picking her head up.

"No. Science." GLaDOS said happily.

"What kind of science?" Amy asked. If she was just reading out of her textbook again, it was boring. But if she was going to get to go do something fun (this is Aperture Science, where Science is never boring) she loved it!

"Go to the observation room for test chamber #1954. We'll start there." GLaDOS said.

Amy sprang up from her desk and ran for the elevator. She got to the observation room just to see Atlas and P-body run into the test chamber.

"Now," GLaDOS said, "Lets start with a review." The chamber was a blank slate. No buttons, lasers, or turrets, just white panels all around the room. GLaDOS made a pit in the back of the room, and then made a few panels on the top of the chamber pop out. Atlas and P-body shrugged at each other and P-body walked over to the pit. She shot one portal at the bottom and one on the panels sticking out. She jumped down and flung herself to the other side of the room.

"What was just demonstrated?" GLaDOS asked Amy.

Amy thought for a moment before answering, "Momentum."

"Which is?" GLaDOS asked.

"A function of mass and velocity." Amy said, very sure of herself.

"Very good." GLaDOS said. She now made the room back to its original blank slate. Amy had always been good at science. It was her best and favorite subject. GLaDOS would always give the 4th grade Science like she was supposed to get, but Amy always got bored with that. She wanted to do more. At one point, GLaDOS even found herself teaching Amy 10th grade Science! The weirdest thing about that…Amy got all of it right.

"So, can we do the fun stuff now?" Amy asked.

"Yes, we can." GLaDOS said. The next 2 hours were spent doing science. GLaDOS would demonstrate something, then Amy would answer a question about it, or ask a question about it. There was a white board in the room, so whenever Amy got stuck she could just use that to write out the problem. Funny how her math skills were, well, let's say 'OK', but her science skills were off the charts.

After Amy was done she headed back to the elevator. It wasn't there yet so she looked around. She noticed there was a staircase right next to her.

"Hey, I'm going to take the stairs, ok?" Amy said.

"Oh, well, alright." GLaDOS said, wondering why she would want to do that instead.

Amy walked down the stairs a little until she made it to the next floor. There were a lot of stairs between levels and there were still two more levels before she got to her room. Amy was now thinking the elevator would have been a good idea. She stopped and sat for a moment to catch her breath. All of the sudden, she heard a rustling noise. She looked around and saw nothing. But then it happened again.

"_What was that?" _Amy thought. She looked around but again saw nothing. She stood up started walking towards the end of the hallway to see the strangest thing. All of the sudden, it went from clean and well put together (where she was now) to dirty and un-kept. This was the part of the facility that was old and not fully run by GLaDOS. Amy looked up to a ledge not to far above her to see something move.

"_What is that?" _Amy thought as she took one step closer to it. The old catwalk that had not been walked on in many years creaked as her foot made contact with it. Luckily, it didn't fall. She squinted her eyes to try to see what that thing was. She saw something pop up but then go back down. There was a ladder right next to the ledge so Amy walked over to it. She pulled on one of the rungs and it didn't break or wobble so she climbed up. She looked to her left to see lots of twigs and other things in a pile, and there was something black in the middle of it. Amy knew the moment she saw it what it was.

"_Is that… a bird?" _She thought. At that moment the bird looked over at her. The bird moving revealed 2 eggs under it. _"And it has eggs." _Amy thought. She involuntarily started leaning closer to it. The bird flew off and the rung snapped under her. She screamed and started flailing her arms around, accidently hitting the nest on her way down. She landed on the catwalk, but quickly looked up to see the nest now teetering on the edge. The eggs fell out of it and Amy lunged just in time to catch them.

"Phew," Amy said, "That could have been bad." She started to walk back over to the ladder to put them back in the nest when she remembered something she had learned in class. "Oh no!" She said, "Once a human touches an egg, the mom won't take care of it anymore!" She couldn't just leave the soon-to-be-birds here to die, but she certainly couldn't take them back to GLaDOS. "What should I do?" She said to the eggs, as if they were going to conjure up some sort of answer for her. In her panic, she headed back to her room.

The eggs were only about 1 inch big, so they weren't that hard to carry and still hide from GLaDOS. She made it to her room and put the eggs on the bed. She started pacing back and forth as she thought of what to do.

"Ok, lets see," Amy, said. She had gotten into the habit of talking to herself when she was in a panic. "I have birds, which GLaDOS HATES, and if I let them go they will die." She knew that eggs needed to be kept under an incubator, and that GLaDOS probably had something like that, but there was no way she was going to let Amy keep them.

After another 15 minutes of thought, Amy decided that she really was out of options, and would have to go ask GLaDOS for help. She took her bag and put some clothes and other soft things in it. She put the eggs on top and started her way towards GLaDOS' chamber. She walked in very slowly, trying to look as innocent as she could.

"H-hi" Amy said, still trying to think of what she was going to say.

"Hello." GLaDOS replied, already knowing that Amy was up to something.

"So, um, how's testing?" Amy asked, though she didn't care. All that mattered was that GLaDOS kept talking, buying Amy more time to think. But GLaDOS wasn't stupid, and knew that's what Amy wanted. So she kept her answer short and to the point.

"Fine. Is there anything you want to tell me?" GLaDOS said. Amy became more stressed when she said that.

"Ok, so, um, when I was walking back to my room I may have stumbled onto something on the 3rd floor…" Amy said. She could tell that GLaDOS was getting mad with her stalling, so she cut right to the chase. "Just, don't freak out, ok?" She said as she started reaching into her bag.

"_Oh no," _GLaDOS thought, _"Its going to be one of those conversations." _ She saw Amy now holding something round that looked shockingly like an egg. "Amy," GLaDOS said, though she already knew what it was, "what is that?"

"They might be bird eggs." Amy said shyly.

"Why do you have bird eggs?" GLaDOS asked, trying desperately to hide the fear in her voice.

Amy took a deep breath and said, "I saw a bird so I climbed a ladder and then I fell and then the eggs fell and then I caught them and then I realized that the mom won't take them now that I touched them and now I need an incubator so they won't die!" She started breathing heavily after spiting all of that out in one breath.

"So you want to k-keep it?" GLaDOS asked, wondering why her voice box was malfunctioning.

"If I don't they'll die!" Amy pleaded.

"They're birds! One less and the world is a better place!" GLaDOS yelled. There was no way this was happening.

"Don't say that! You'll hurt their feelings!" Amy protested.

"I honestly don't care! There is no way you are keeping birds as pets! They're filthy and vile creatures!" GLaDOS yelled.

"All I need from you is somewhere warm to keep them." Amy said.

"How about the incinerator? Its very warm in there." GLaDOS said.

" Aunt GLaDOS…" Amy said, not amused.

"Amy, I'm putting my foot down on this one. NO!" GLaDOS said firmly.

"You don't have feet!" Amy said, trying anything to win this fight.

"You know what I meant!" GLaDOS said, now very frustrated by the current events. "Now go put those things in the incinerator before I do it for you!"

Amy was now panicking. The odds seemed stacked against her and it would just be easier to give it up now. Unfortunately for GLaDOS, the words 'Give up' didn't exist in Amy's bloodline. Amy got a smile as she thought of something GLaDOS couldn't refuse.

"What if we made it a science project?" Amy said, now excited again.

"Excuse me, what?" GLaDOS said, the word 'science' calming her.

"Yeah! What if I kept them in my room and kept a journal of their lives! Every night I could write my observations of them." Amy said. She was sure she was winning on this one.

GLaDOS was silently cursing her programming at this point. The protocol clearly states, 'Science, no matter what', even if it powered over personal fear.

GLaDOS sat in a silent frustration for a moment before saying, "Only until the eggs hatch. Then we get rid of those _things_."

"You mean let them go, right?" Amy motioned.

"Fine, just get them out." GLaDOS seethed.

"Ok, but can I keep them just for one week after they are born? Just to make sure that they will be alright outside." Amy asked

GLaDOS hated this. I mean she REALLY hated this. And now Amy wanted to add another week onto this torture?

"Please?" Amy begged.

"One week. The second one week hits, they're gone, got it?" GLaDOS said, wishing that she had made Amy take that stupid elevator.

"DEAL!" Amy said, shocked at the fact that GLaDOS was actually letting her keep them.

GLaDOS quickly got an incubator built and put in Amy's bedroom. GLaDOS made sure to put the temperature 2 degrees lower than it should be. It's hot enough so that the birds will live, but they would sufferer doing so. Amy didn't know though, she would just get mad.

Amy spent an hour or so on the Internet looking up how to take care of crow eggs, and there really wasn't much to it. You pretty much just watch them and wait for them to hatch, which is about 18 days. Amy didn't know how long they had been in there, but it couldn't be much longer.

Every day at school after that, Amy couldn't stop thinking about the birds. "Are they ok? I wonder if they're out yet. Should I go check on them?" Every day after school, Amy would run to her room to check on them, and everyday it was the same thing…nothing. This continued for about 14 days, but one day it changed.

Amy was sitting on her bed doodling when she heard a noise that sounded like a small "clank". She looked up to see that one of the eggs was moving, which hadn't happened before. She quickly grabbed the journal that she kept her observations in and wrote what she saw. It just wiggled for a while before a crack formed in the side. Amy could barely contain her excitement as she wrote down in her notebook, "THE EGG IS HATCHING!" While the egg was hatching, Amy was saying "Come on, you can do it! It's not that hard! Come on!" The moment she saw a beak was the most exciting thing. As soon as it hatched, the bird laid flat down on the ground, exhausted. Amy didn't worry though; this was normal for a newborn bird.

At this point the other one had started hatching too. After about 10 minutes, both of the birds were out. Amy stared at them for a while as she watched them try to lift their heads up. She wanted to help them, but she knew that they were too fragile right now. She went and got some gloves out of her bathroom and went to go get the eggs out of the incubator. She got the eggs out but kept the birds in. Amy went over to her desk to get the papers that she had printed for after they had hatched.

"Ok," Amy said, cheerful as ever, "it says here that all I have to do is feed you guys oatmeal and stuff for a while, then in about 8 weeks, you guys will be ready to go!" Amy smiled at her newborn "children" until she realized what she just said.

"Wait…HOW LONG?" She said while looking back at her paper. There it was, all in black in white it said:

A crow will not survive if it leaves the nest before it knows how to fly. They learn how to fly in about 8 weeks.

"What should I do?" Amy said for the *umth* time since this whole bird ordeal started, " I can't let them go in a week, they'll die for sure! But there's no way she'll let me keep them for more than a week!" Amy knew that GLaDOS didn't like them here for the one-week, let alone 8! The way Amy saw it she had three options:

Tell GLaDOS that the birds need 8 more weeks and have them thrown in the incinerator

Let the birds go in a week like promised and have them die outside

Don't tell GLaDOS they hatched and keep them secret for 8 weeks, but if GLaDOS finds out she (and the birds) would be DEAD

Well, Amy didn't like ANY of those options but she knew she had to pick one. After a moment of thought, she thought that it would be best to take risks and try her hand at #3. I mean, what's the worst that can happen?

The next day at school, Amy couldn't stop thinking of the birds. "Oh please be quiet. Oh please be quiet. Oh PLEASE be quiet." She thought over and over and over again. After they were done she ran straight for the kitchen. Last night she read over what crows will eat and it was pretty much a mix of oatmeal and some sort of beef.

She started to mix the two when GLaDOS asked, "WHAT are you doing?"

"J-just making an afternoon snack." Amy said as innocently as she could.

"What are you making?" GLaDOS asked, disgusted.

"Oh, I just read about this and I thought I'd give it a try." Amy said, starting out the door and walking to her room.

"You didn't make much." GLaDOS said.

"Well, I'm not that hungry. So, if you need me I'll be in my room." Amy said, closing the door to her room. She sighed when she closed the door and turned to her birds, which were now standing up and staring at her.

"Don't give me that look. I'm saving your life." Amy told them as she walked over and put the food on her bed. She walked over to her desk and got out the papers on the birds.

"Ok then. How do I feed you guys?" She said as she looked over the paper. She finally found it and was disgusted by the result. It said you had to put some on your finger and shove it into the back of their throats. She looked up and down the paper for another way, but that was the only way.

"Are you guys really worth all of this?" Amy said as she pulled out some gloves from her bathroom. She went back over to the birds and took one out. Unfortunately, no one told her that birds were loud while they were being fed. Amy kept having to shush it. And it was nothing different with the other bird either. Lucky for Amy, they weren't loud enough for GLaDOS to hear them.

When she was done, she put both of the birds back in the incubator and ran to the bathroom to scrub her hands for a good 10 minutes (leaving GLaDOS wondering why Amy's water usage went on for that long).

She walked out of the bathroom, back to her birds, and couldn't shake the feeling that something was missing.

"Oh! I never gave you names, did I?" Amy said. The birds looked at her and tilted their heads. "Ok, so how about you're cotton, because you have more feathers than your sister." She said to the one, "And you can be angel, because you flap your wings more than your brother. You guys like it?" She asked. The birds flapped their wings in response.

"Good." Amy said. She started to get excited as she remembered that she had never named anything before. Well, George, but the companion cube doesn't count.

The next few days went pretty much normal. GLaDOS only asked once if the birds had hatched, and Amy just replied with, "No, not yet. Weird huh?" and walked away. GLaDOS never said anything because she didn't really want to hear anything about the _things_.

Amy just kept getting the birds the same food and brought it to her room. GLaDOS couldn't understand why Amy had gotten into this eating habit, and had done some research on if this was normal for a 10 year old. She couldn't find anything, but figured that Amy was no normal child and it was just a phase.

They had this method for about 3 weeks, and everything went fine.

Until one day.

Amy was coming back to her room after school. She walked in and took the blanket off of the incubator (it had to be put on there because the birds started getting loud) and set the food on her bed.

"Ok," she said turning around, "who's hungry-" she was cut off by the most terrifying thing she had ever seen in her entire life.

One bird.

"C-c-c-cotton," Amy stammered, "Where's your sister?" Cotton just tilted his head like saying, "Are you going to feed me or what?" Amy nearly jumped out of her skin as she started tearing up he room. She looked everywhere but couldn't find her anywhere. When she was about to give up when a book fell off of her nightstand and made a loud "BANG" which sent cotton screaming loudly.

"What is that?" Amy heard GLaDOS ask. Amy walked out to the hallway and looked at a camera.

"Um, that was, um, ME! Yeah, me! I was just trying to practice my bird sounds from when they come out. Tweet tweet." Amy said nervously.

"Well stop it, you're creeping me out." GLaDOS said.

"_I can't believe she fell for that."_ Amy thought.

"Hey, um, did I happen to leave my door open today by any chance?" Amy asked. GLaDOS went through her tapes of that day and found when Amy had left her room.

"Yes, you did. Why do you ask?" GLaDOS asked. Amy felt her stomach drop about 1000 feet.

"Oh." Amy said as she walked back into her room. She had her back to the door as she slid to the floor.

"I. Am. Dead." Amy said as she banged her head up against the door. She put the blanket back on the incubator and got her bag. She headed out and hoped she could find Angel before it jumped off of a catwalk, or worse, GLaDOS found it.

Amy walked around and tried desperately to look discreet, but it wasn't easy when she was panicking. She started to walk towards GLaDOS' chamber because she had checked everywhere else, but she was already thinking of a way she could explain how she started out with 2 eggs and ended with 1.

She walked into the chamber looking a bit depressed.

"Hey, um," Amy started to say.

"Amy" GLaDOS said, cutting her off.

"Um, yes." Amy said causally.

"Would you please explain this." GLaDOS said, very irritated. Amy didn't know what she was talking about at first, until she saw a bird in a cage at the other side of the chamber.

"NOW HOW DID THAT GET IN HERE?" Amy said, even though she could tell that GLaDOS was mad.

"Amy," GLaDOS said as calm as she could, "is this yours?"

"Well, there is no way to tell, but it might be the mom so why don't I just take her back to the eggs and they can be reunited." Amy said, praying that it would work.

"Oh that's not the mom." GLaDOS said, "Trust me, I'll never forget what she looked like. So is it yours?"

"Well, there's a chance." Amy said looking around the room.

"I thought you said that they didn't hatch." GLaDOS said, ready to kill the bird at any minute.

"About that…." Amy said, knowing that there was no way out now.

"When did they get here?" GLaDOS asked.

"About 3 weeks ago." Amy said forcing out a smile.

"3 WEEKS!" GLaDOS yelled so loud Amy got knocked back a little. "You said straight to me that they were still eggs."

"I may have exaggerated the truth a little." Amy said.

"You lied is what you did." GLaDOS said angrily.

"That's one way to look at it." Amy said.

"Amy…" GLaDOS growled.

"I'm sorry Aunt GLaDOS." Amy said, feeling like the apology was unnecessary and that GLaDOS was overreacting.

"Is the other one hatched?" GLaDOS asked, not really accepting Amy's apology.

"Yes." Amy said.

"So, that food you were making was for them right?" GLaDOS said, trying to find any good news in this. Amy nodded. "Thank God. That explains a lot." GLaDOS said.

"Yep. Did you really think I'd eat that? I mean; I can't believe the birds eat it, can you?" Amy said trying to change the subject.

"I should have never let you do this. I knew you were going to get to attached to them!" GLaDOS said.

"It's not that I got attached to them, its just that they would die if I let them go." Amy said. GLaDOS just looked at her, prompting her to explain this math. "If they can't fly they'll die and they learn to fly in about 8 weeks." Amy explained.

"Why didn't you just tell me in the first place?" GLaDOS said, trying to calm down.

"You know you wouldn't let me keep them for that long." Amy said. And she was right; there was no way GLaDOS would have let her keep them for that long.

"That doesn't justify lying." GLaDOS snapped.

"I said I was sorry!" Amy yelled.

"Don't you dare yell at me!" GLaDOS yelled back. GLaDOS was very surprised at Amy, as Amy had never yelled at her like that. "Now get those things out of here NOW!" She yelled.

"But they'll die!" Amy said.

"I don't care! Get them out!" GLaDOS yelled.

Amy was furious right now. She couldn't understand why GLaDOS was being so mean to her! She was so furious that she couldn't calm herself down, and finally yelled at the top of her lungs, "I HATE YOU!" and stormed out of the chamber and into her room, where she slammed the door behind her.

GLaDOS was at a loss for words. Never, EVER had she felt this kind of pain in her entire life.

"_She didn't mean it."_ Caroline said.

"You are the last person I want to talk to right now." GLaDOS said. After a long while of silence between the two, GLaDOS asked, "What went wrong?"

"_Do you remember when she was 6 and she snuck into a chamber, so you punished her?"_ Caroline asked.

"Yes, why?" GLaDOS said.

"_That was fantastic, and now she won't go in a test chamber, but you weren't consistent. You let her get away with too many things."_ Caroline said.

"Like what?" GLaDOS asked, thinking that she can't be THAT bad.

"_Like letting her keep the birds for one thing."_ Caroline replied.

"I didn't let her get away with that, I just let her do it. Those are two different things." GLaDOS said, hoping to make a point.

"_You know what I mean."_ Caroline said.

At that moment their conversation was broken by a noise coming from the entrance to the chamber. GLaDOS looked to see Amy, whose eyes were red from crying, walking in.

"Aunt GLaDOS," Amy said softly, "do you hate me?"

GLaDOS sighed before answering, "No. In fact, believe it or not, I still love you. But I thought you hated me."

Amy started crying again and ran over to GLaDOS. She put her arms around what she could reach. "I'm sorry!" She said through her tears, "I didn't mean it! Please forgive me!"

"I know you didn't mean it." GLaDOS said, "But you still shouldn't have lied to me."

"I'm sorry!" Amy said, holding on tighter.

"I know." GLaDOS said. Amy pulled away and wiped off her tears. "But, in the future no more lying, got it?" GLaDOS said.

Amy smiled and nodded. "I promise." She said.

"Good." GLaDOS said. Amy walked up to GLaDOS and stood right in front of her.

"Aunt GLaDOS," Amy said, "I love you."

"I know. I love you too." GLaDOS replied. Amy put her arms around GLaDOS again and stayed there for a while.

"_This isn't much of a punishment." _Caroline said.

"You know what," GLaDOS said to Caroline, "I think you need a nap." GLaDOS pushed Caroline to that back of her brain where she could not be heard. She knew that when she pulled Caroline back out that Caroline wasn't going to be happy, but at this moment, she just didn't care.

**A/N:**

**Me: *heavy breathing* I-*more heavy breathing* it's done!**

**Kate: Ok, in the last chapter when I said that this one needed to be longer, I DIDN'T MEAN 5,000 WORDS!**

**Me: So it ran over a little, what's the big deal?**

**Kate: It's 5,000 words! You call that 'a little'!**

**Me: well…ANYWAYS sorry I didn't clear up what happens to the birds, this ran WAY over and I didn't know what to do with them! Use your own imagination. Fun fact! Cotton and angel were two birds that I used to have! The reason that I named them the same here is because Angel did pretty much the same things to us. Also, this chapter involved A LOT of Google searching about crows. On the bright side, if I ever have to write a report on them I am set!**

**Kate: will you just do the pop quiz already?**

**Me: All right all right! POP QUIZ! Quick, what's 2+2? (Hint: think with portals)**

**Kate: see you all in the next chapter!**


	9. A Simple Test

**A/N:**

**Me: Yep, chapter 8. **

**Kate: and this chapter has a special guest!**

**Me: Um, who?**

**Kate: ME!**

**Me: Hold on… no.**

**Kate: DUDE, YOU'RE SO MEAN!**

**Me: Anyway, the answer for the pop quiz in chapter 7 was *drum roll* 10!**

**Kate: in base 4! I'M FINE!**

**Me: the winner is 7-dark-dreams! Your prize is…LEMONS!**

An awkward silence filled Aperture Science. It had been that way for two days and had no signs of lifting. 14-year-old Amy was sitting in an observation room above a test chamber just watching Atlas and P-body test. Two days ago marked the 10-year anniversary of the day Chell had died. It was such a bittersweet day, heavy on the bitter. Amy sighed and got up. She couldn't let that drag her down forever, so she went outside to see if she had any shipments.

She went outside often now. The delivery service where she got her clothes dropped the shipments right outside the wheat field now, and she would go out and get it. It had been this way for the past 2 years or so. Amy had never seen anybody, and she loved it that way. She had a strong case of anthrophobia, fear of humans, from being away from them for so long. Amy didn't mind though, she loved the *little* hole in the ground in which she lived.

She walked on the path she had forged for herself. It was hot today and she really wished she had just stayed inside. She made it to the curb and looked to see if anything was there.

Nada.

Amy sighed and walked back to her house. It wasn't to terribly far, but it wasn't just a block away either.

Amy got back in and went to her room. She sat on her bed and tried to think of what to do next. She had been to the end of the Internet and back, and seen everything this place had to offer, so she was really at a loss. She got back up and walked around some more. She always paced when she was bored. She came up to a chamber where Atlas and P-body were testing. She stopped and looked at them for a while.

"_That looks like so much fun."_ Amy thought. She had always thought that about testing, but she knew better than to go ask GLaDOS if she could test. As she was walking away, she couldn't stop thinking about testing.

"_What does it hurt to ask?" _She had wanted to do testing ever since she had heard about it. Even though she knew that GLaDOS was probably going to say no, she went to her chamber to ask anyway.

"Hey, um, can I talk to you?" Amy asked when she made it to GLaDOS' chamber.

"Ok, what's wrong?" GLaDOS said, turning to face Amy.

"No, I mean, I need to ask you something really important. So I need your full attention." Amy said.

GLaDOS sighed and closed testing for a moment. "Ok, you've got 10 minutes. What's your oh-so important question?" GLaDOS asked.

"Ok," Amy said, trying to act as professionally as she could. " I have lived here for 10 years. Now, as you know, that is a very long time. In my time here I have picked up a few things."

"Go on…" GLaDOS prompted.

"I know every safety protocol, I know every risk, I know every rule," Amy said.

"Where are you going with this?" GLaDOS asked.

"Aunt GLaDOS," Amy said matter-of-factly, "I want to test."

"Oh." GLaDOS said, taken back. "Do you mean you want to help me test the robots or,"

"No. I want to be a test subject." Amy said smiling.

"No." GLaDOS said, turning back to the monitors.

"You're not even going to think about it?" Amy asked, wondering why she was so hasty with her answer.

"No. You're too young." GLaDOS said.

"When will I be old enough?" Amy said, though she really didn't want to wait.

"Never." GLaDOS said.

"Aunt GLaDOS!" Amy said, walking between GLaDOS and the monitors.

"Amy, it just isn't a good idea." GLaDOS said. "You just don't understand."

"But I do understand!" Amy yelled, "I know it's not safe! I'll be extra careful."

"It's not that." GLaDOS said.

"Then what is it?" Amy asked.

"Well, if you go into a chamber you can't come out until you finish the test. No matter what, I can't get you out." GLaDOs pointed out to Amy.

"Then I won't go into a chamber if I'm even a little tired and I'll go to the bathroom before each one." Amy said, making good points.

"Even if you get hurt, I still can't get you out!" GLaDOS said.

"I won't get hurt! Please let me test!" Amy pleaded.

"That gun probably carries 40 different diseases." GLaDOS told her.

"I'll be fine! This is Aperture Science! There's got to be a cure for each of those diseases somewhere in here!" Amy said. And she was right, there was.

"Amy, I'm sorry, but no. You just can't. " GLaDOS said, lifting Amy by her shirt and placing her by the door.

"Is this because of mom?" Amy asked. Silence filled the room again as Amy realized she might have taken it a bit too far.

"Don't you have homework to do?" GLaDOS asked. Amy quietly started walking out of the room.

"_Holy cow."_ Caroline said.

"What?" GLaDOS asked.

"_You said no…to __**testing**__!" _Caroline said, astonished.

"It's Amy, why would I say yes?" GLaDOS asked.

"_I just can't believe it! You went against everything in your programming!"_ Caroline said, still dumbfounded.

"Yes, yes, we all know that. Thank you." GLaDOS said sarcastically.

"_I mean, wow GLaDOS, you really have become more human!" _Caroine said happily.

"Human?" GLaDOS said, extremely insulted. "What do you mean by that?"

"_I mean you have become more of a mother than a scientist! It's amazing!"_ Caroline said.

"Excuse me?" GLaDOS yelled at her. How dare she say that GLaDOS was less of a scientist!

GLaDOS was furious. She tried to think of a comeback but she thought of a better idea.

"Oh Amy!" GLaDOS said out loud. Amy walked back into the chamber.

"What's up?" Amy asked.

"_What do you think you're doing?"_ Caroline asked.

"Amy, do you REALLY want to do testing?" GLaDOS asked.

"Yes!" Amy said, getting excited.

"Think about this, Do you really-" GLaDOS started to say.

"Yes!"

"Are you sure-"

"Yes!"

"But are you positive that-"

"YES!" Amy yelled.

"Be here, 5:30 a.m. SHARP! One second later and the deal's off!" GLaDOS said.

Amy was so excited. "THANK YOU SO MUCH!" She yelled as she ran out of the chamber and back to her room.

"There. What do you have to say about that?" GLaDOS said to Caroline.

"_I really need to learn to chose my words more wisely."_ Caroline said. The two fell silent for the rest of the day.

The next morning, at about 5:15, GLaDOS was in a panic. What was she thinking? Did she really tell Amy she could test? GLaDOS was praying that Amy would wake up late and miss her time. She was even planning something Amy could do instead. But, much to GLaDOS' dismay, at 5:30 there was a redheaded, wide-eyed teenager standing in the entrance.

"I'm ready!" She said as peppy as she could.

"Don't take this lightly!" GLaDOS snapped. "This is very serious!"

"Right! Serious!" Amy said smiling.

GLaDOS sighed. "Alright, the clothes you have to wear are in the corner."

"This room is round, there are no corners." Amy said.

"Amy…" GLaDOS growled.

"Ok, ok. Lighten up." Amy said as she was walking over to the pile of clothing.

Amy proceeded to get dressed. She hit a snag when she realized that the jumpsuit fit around her legs, but it didn't fit her upper body.

"uh, Aunt GLaDOS…" Amy said.

"What is it?" GlaDOS said.

"It doesn't fit." Amy replied. GLaDOS looked at her for a moment before replying.

"Why don't you just tie the sleeves around your waist." Amy did so and then smiled at her.

"It worked. Thanks Aunt GLaDOS." Amy said. She proceeded to pull her hair up in a ponytail and was having a hard time containing her excitement.

"So what about shoes?" Amy asked. GLaDOS made a table next to Amy pop up with a pair of long fall boots on it. Amy took them and put them on. She had a little trouble getting them on, but managed to get into them.

"So, how do I look? Amy asked. GLaDOS swore that in the 10 years she had known Amy, she had never looked more like her mother then she did right now. She was beautiful.

"Fine. You look fine." GLaDOS said.

"Sweet! So, when do I get my portal gun?" Amy asked excitedly.

"Not so fast. First you have to do some simple tests before you get the gun." GLaDOS said, "Now go to the elevator and we'll get started." Amy ran out of the room as fast as she could, though she was still getting used to the boots and kept tripping. She got in the elevator and it dropped her at a small hallway leading to chamber #1. Amy got out of the elevator and started walking towards the chamber. She almost got in when GLaDOS stopped her with some panels.

"Aunt GLaDOS…" Amy said impatiently.

"Are you sure you want to do this?" GLaDOS asked.

"I'm positive." Amy said back.

"I can't give you any special treatment. You will be treated like every other test subject. Also, I can't talk to you all that much." GLaDOS said.

"I got it! Now let me through!" Amy said. GLaDOS sighed and let Amy pass. When Amy got in the chamber the door locked behind her. She breathed happily and got the cube from the vent and put it on the button. She started to walk out when GLaDOS stopped her again with panels.

"Well, that was fun. Why don't you come back and we can talk about the results." GLaDOS prompted.

"We haven't even been at this 5 minutes!" Amy yelled. "Are you going to do this ALL day?"

"Yes. Will you come back now?" GLaDOS asked.

"No." Amy said as she crawled over the panels. " 'Like every other test subject' she says." Amy said under her breath.

"Did you say something?" GLaDOS asked.

"Oh, nothing!" Amy said as she went into the next chamber.

Amy solved this chamber in 30 seconds flat. When she got to the one after that, she got the portal device.

"Very good. You are now in possession of the Aperture Science Hand-held Portal device. With it, you can create your own portals." GLaDOS said.

"Why are you telling me what I already know?" Amy asked.

"Protocol." GLaDOS said flatly, since she could not talk to Amy that much.

Amy rolled her eyes and examined the Gun. It was just like she had thought it would feel like. She faced it towards a wall, took a deep breath, and shot. It knocked her back a little, but when she looked up she loved what she saw.

"I did it!" She exclaimed, "I made a portal! After 14 years, I, Amy Caroline Murphy, made a portal!"

She walked up timidly to the portal. She stuck her hand in before walking all the way through, and after she did she walked to the elevator.

"Did you see that?" Amy exclaimed.

"Yes, I saw. And we are all very impressed with your portal making ability's. Now are you done?" GLaDOS said impatiently.

"Are you kidding? I could do this all day!" Amy yelled.

"All day? Wonderful." GLaDOS said to herself sarcastically.

It wasn't much longer until Amy got the dual portal device and went to town with it. She was putting a portal on every portal- able (Yes, it's a word!) wall she could find. Whenever she found a corner with portal walls, she would shoot one on each side and use it as a mirror to fix her ponytail.

GLaDOS, on the other hand, Kept having a short-circuit whenever she heard a turret say, 'I see you'. They never hurt Amy because she was fast, and killed them faster you can say 'No hard feelings'.

After about 3 hours of testing, Amy yawned while she was solving a test. When she got out of the chamber, GLaDOS stopped her before she made it to the elevator.

"What gives?" Amy asked.

"I think you've done enough for today." GLaDOS told her.

"But I'm fine." Amy protested.

"You yawned in the last chamber. You're getting tired." GLaDOS said.

"I don't feel tired." Amy said.

"I don't want you to collapse in the next chamber. This elevator will take you back to the level we are on." GLaDOS said.

Amy didn't want to protest so she just got in the elevator. When she got in she realized how bad her legs hurt, and where the gun had rubbed her wrist raw. It was a long ride back to her floor, so she sat down and pulled her boots off. She rubbed her legs because they too were red.

"Note to self: Next time, wear something to protect legs." Amy said.

When the elevator stopped, she got out walked towards GLaDOS' chamber with her boots in one hand and her portal gun in the other. With every step she took, she felt like the ground was caving under her heels. _"Maybe I wore the boots a little too long."_ She thought.

Amy walked into GLaDOS' chamber and collapsed on the floor jokingly.

"That," Amy started, "was the most fun I have ever had in my entire life!"

"Glad you liked it." GLaDOS said.

"And think about it, I didn't even do any of the gels today! How fun will that be?" Amy exclaimed.

"Why don't we wait a while before we work with the poisonous gels, alright?" GLaDOS said, hoping Amy wouldn't remember that she wanted to use the gels.

"Ok. So what were my results?" Amy said excitedly.

"They are coming in right now." GLaDOS said.

"So, what do they say?" Amy asked.

"You are a horrible person." GLaDOS said. Amy looked at her with a '_really_?' look. "That's what it says, a horrible person."

"Aunt GLaDOS…" Amy said smiling.

"Alright, I couldn't resist." GLaDOS said. Amy laughed before she continued. "Your accuracy was 4.2, your speed was 4.7, your logic was 5.0, and your overall athletic rate was a 4.3."

"I don't understand! Why are my scores so low?" Amy asked disappointed.

"Amy, the scale is 1-5. Your scores were really quite good." GLaDOS said. She had never been more proud of Amy then she was right now.

"Really?" Amy said.

"Yes, really." GLaDOS said dryly. "Now please put you Aperture Science Hand-held Portal Device on the podium."

"You mean the portal gun?" Amy asked.

"Sure, whatever you want to call it." GLaDOS said. Amy walked over to the podium, put the gun down, and waved good-bye as she left the room. As she waked, her boots kept hitting her ankles. All that she could think about was throwing on some sweat-pants and a huge T-shirt and crawling back into bed to take a nice long Saturday-afternoon nap.

When she got to her room, she put her boots right inside her door, and shut the door behind her. She walked over to her bed when she saw something that stopped her cold. There was something on her bed. It was a ball, not huge but not small, and it looked just like some of the cores she had seen. She could tell that it was looking at her, and the two of them just stood there for a while before the ball said "Hello!" in a very peppy, and very heavy, British accent.

**A/N: **

**Me: Sooo….If any of you were wondering what would happen if you gave me a portal gun…..go look at Amy's reaction. That would be me.**

**Kate: So Amy finally has a name, huh?**

**Me: Yeah, I thought you would like it.**

**Kate: …**

**Me: hehehe**

**Kate: Just….shut up…**

**Me: Ok every one; I would like to say something really quick before the POP QUIZ. I LOVE that you guys like the pop quizzes, and I will keep doing them, but if you guys wouldn't mind putting the answer to the pop quiz AND an input on what you think of the story that would be awesome. I'm not saying that if you don't I'll stop doing the quizzes, but if you wouldn't mind saying something about the story too, that would be great.**

**Kate: blah blah blah blah**

**Me: SHUT UP! Anyway, POP QUIZ! In what level in portal 1 do you get the portal device (not the duel portal device, just the one)? Ok, see you next time!**

**Kate: I wonder who that guy was…**


	10. Wheatley's return

**A/N:**

**Me: soooooo I saw that a lot of you figured out who our little "mystery character" was in the last chapter.**

**Kate: It really wasn't that hard to figure out.**

**Me: yeah, I guess. Anyway I have also been looking forward to writing this chapter for a while and here it is! Enjoy!**

**Kate: forgetting something?**

**Me: OH YEAH! The answer to the last POP QUIZ was *drum roll* chamber #2!**

**Kate: um, yay?**

**Me: the winner is Kingmort35. Your prize is…..the word apple!**

_Flashback:_

_When she got to her room she put her boots right inside her door and shut the door behind her. She walked over to her bed when she saw something that stopped her cold. There was something on her bed. It was a ball, not huge but not small, and it looked just like some of the cores she had seen. She could tell that it was looking at her, and the two of them just stood there for a while before the ball said "Hello!" in a very peppy, and very heavy, British accent. _

_End flashback_

"Uh, hi?" Amy said, having no clue what was going on at this moment.

"Oh! Um, hi, then, I guess. Is this how humans greet each other? Because I think it is, but, you know, I-I could be wrong." The thing babbled on prompting more odd looks from Amy.

"Excuse me, who are you?" Amy asked, thinking this was some kind of joke GLaDOS was pulling on her.

"Oh, right. Should have started with that, I guess. Well, my name is Wheatley and, lady, I very much am in need of a favor." He said.

He kept talking, but Amy tuned out. All she was thinking was _"Wheatley, Wheatley, where do I know this name from? It sounds so familiar." _ He babbled on for a while until it snapped in Amy's head. _"OH! that's right,"_ She thought, _"he was the one who got shot into space because he almost killed GLaDOS…..and…..my…..mom…."_

He was STILL talking when Amy put the pieces in her head together. _"He has the nerve to come back here?"_ She thought, _"After all the trouble he caused?" _Amy was mad, to say the least. He almost killed her birth mother; he humiliated her adopted mother (and gave her ornithophobia, fear of birds), and on top of that nearly blew up her home!

She wanted to kill him right there. She wanted to pry apart every last bolt that was in that little moron, then throw every piece into the incinerator. She was really ready to do it, too.

But then she thought of a much more suitable punishment.

Amy got the most sly, evil grin on her face, and Wheatley noticed. He slid his optic further back into is body and stopped talking. Amy let out an evil chuckle before she backed up, put her hands over her ears, and screamed at the top of her lungs.

"Amy? Amy, are you alright?" GLaDOS yelled in a deep panic.

"Uh oh." Wheatley said.

Amy quickly grabbed Wheatley and ran towards the door. She flung the door open and threw him out into the hall.

"_You!_" GLaDOS hissed.

"Oh no!" Wheatley yelled as a claw came down and grabbed him. He was quickly taken into GLaDOS' chamber and Amy was running as fast as she could. She was NOT going to miss this.

"What do you think you're doing here?" GLaDOS hissed at the shaking little core just inches away from her face.

"I just… well you see… I was… it's a funny story actually and I… um," Wheatley stuttered.

Amy, who was standing beside him, had heard enough and decided to cut in. "He threatened me!" She yelled, pointing towards him.

"Now what- I did not!" He protested. GLaDOS was looking even more hostile than she had been before, which Wheatley thought was impossible.

"Yes he did! He told me that if I didn't do what ever he said, he would kill me!" Amy yelled, sounding so convincing that even Wheatley believed her for a moment.

"She's lying! I swear she's lying!" He screamed as loud as his voice box would allow.

"Aunt GLaDOS," Amy said in her cute voice, "Who are you going to believe? Me," her voice turned hostile again, "or the moron?"

"I AM NOT A MORON!" He screamed.

"Amy," GLaDOS said, "Will you give us a moment. We need to 'catch up'."

"Sure thing." Amy said as evil as she could. She left but snuck and hid behind a panel to watch. Like she said, she was NOT going to miss this.

"Well, well, well.." GLaDOS said, causing Wheatley to shake even more, "what do we have here?"

"Uh, ok, listen, I don't really know who that was or what she was doing here, but if you wouldn't mind-" Wheatley started to say.

"Not so fast." GLaDOS said, "I need to tell you something first."

"Uh, ok…." Wheatley said.

"You really insist on ruining everything, don't you?" GLaDOS said. Wheatley was silent, so she continued. "I might have enjoyed punishing you before, maybe even gone a *little* bit easier on you because of that. But no, you had to ruin that for me too."

"Excuse me, but what exactly did I do?" Wheatley asked.

"You really are a moron, aren't you? You know what, don't answer. The point is you threatened her and now I can't enjoy punishing you because I am too mad. So congratulations." She droned.

"I did not threaten her! She was lying!" Wheatley protested.

GLaDOS completely ignored him as she said, "While I was in that potato I had time to think about a few things…"

"Oh, did I forget to say sorry about that? Because I am, really, REALLY sorry, and I would say that I didn't mean it, but at the time, I did. BUT I would never do it again because I am sorry. There, so maybe you can put me back on my management rail and we can go back to normal after you do me a favor." He said trying to save himself, but failing.

"I will say though," GLaDOS said, ignoring him and starting to move the claw over the incinerator, "since you went to all the trouble of coming back, you must really, REALLY have missed me. I missed you too, there's just one small thing we need to take care of first."

GLaDOS dropped him into the incinerator. He screamed "nononononononono!" the entire way until she couldn't hear him anymore.

Amy walked back to her room to get changed back into normal clothing. She wasn't really in the mood for sleeping anymore, so she decided to put an old T-shirt and jeans and go do some laundry. She took her hamper and started out. As she walked to the laundry room (where the scientists use to wash contaminated lab coats and test subject uniforms) she couldn't help but feel curious. _"What was that favor he wanted?" _ She thought. She kept telling herself that she really didn't care, but the truth was she did.

She put her things in the washer and headed back to her room. On her way she heard a noise. She pinpointed it to where a tube that goes to the incinerator was broken on the front. She was always meaning to fix that. When Amy walked over to it she saw that one of Wheatley's handles had gotten hung on the wall. He saw her almost instantly.

"Oh! Hello. Can I have some help here?" He asked.

"Oh sure." Amy said sarcastically. She picked him up and held him over the shoot.

"AG!" He yelled as he looked down, "Please let me talk to you! Just two seconds please!" He begged.

Amy was reluctant but did pull him in_. "Stupid accent"_ she thought.

"You've got 5 seconds." She said between her teeth.

"Ok, good. I should use this time wisely, shouldn't I? Hummm, what to say, what to say. Oh yes! I should ask for the favor. NO wait, I need to know your name first, don't I? Favor, name, favor, name, favor" Wheatley rambled. He stopped when he realized that he was being held over the shoot again and screamed. Amy was looking at him crossly.

"Times up." She said.

"AG! No! Please no! Just I…you look so familiar." Wheatley said, seeming to forget that his life was on the line.

"Excuse me?" Amy asked.

"That angry stare….I know I've seen it somewhere before…" Wheatley said. "Wait a minute. JUST WAIT ONE MINUTE! You're related to her, aren't you?"

"umm…." Amy said, though she knew who he was talking about.

"You're related to Chell, aren't you?" Wheatley asked. Amy silently nodded. "I knew it! You are the spitting image of her!"

"Oh, um, thank you." Amy said, pulling him in and blushing profusely.

"Let me guess…. sisters, right? No, that's not it, she didn't have sisters. Ummm, in-law? Cousin? Niece?" Wheatley guessed.

"Wheatley," Amy said, "I'm her daughter."

"Chell had a child? That's amazing! And, let me tell you, you look just like her. Just as lovely." Wheatley said, quite honestly.

Amy was blushing more now and even smiling. "Thank you. And, because you asked, my name is Amy." She said softly.

"Amy. What a lovely name. There was a test subject named Amy once. Yeah, not a very bright girl. OH, but I'm not saying that you're not bright! Not at all! I meant…hum, what did I mean again?" Wheatley said. Amy giggled before he continued. "Listen, Amy, where is your mother? There is something quite urgent I need to tell her."

Wheatley had never seen a smile disappear that quickly.

"Actually, Wheatley, my mother, um.." Amy said, struggling to get the words out.

"What is it?" Wheatley asked.

"She died 10 years ago." Amy said.

"What?" Wheatley said, still trying to take this in. "but…..how?"

"Humans." Amy said bitterly.

"She's…. dead? I just…can't believe this." Wheatley said, wondering why the scientists gave him the ability to feel pain.

"hum, me either." She said.

"I will never get to say how sorry I am to her…" He said, completely devastated.

"What?" Amy asked.

"I just spent the whole time up there wishing that she would know how sorry I was and now... now I can't." He said, forgetting that he was talking to Amy.

"You came all this way… to apologize?" Amy said, astounded.

"Yes. But now…" Wheatley started to say before he looked back up at Amy. "I'm sorry. I was a monster and a proper maniac. You have no reason to forgive me for what I did, but I just need you to know how sorry I am."

"Wheatley…" Amy started to say. She took him and held him close to her, almost in a hug.

"There is another thing I would like to know." Wheatley said.

"What is it?" Amy asked, pulling him away so she could look at him.

"What are you doing here?" He asked.

Amy's smile returned as she said, "I live here. GLaDOS is my adopted mother."

"_She_ is your _mother_?" Wheatley asked dumbfounded.

"I suppose you could say that, yeah." Amy said.

"But she's…evil! How could she possibly be your mother?" Wheatley asked.

"Excuse me?" A voice came over the intercom. What Amy and Wheatley did not realize was that GLaDOS had listened to their entire conversation.

"You could hear us?" Amy asked, looking up.

"The cameras have audio, you know." GLaDOS said.

"Oh, right." Amy said.

"Will you bring him here?" GLaDOS asked. Amy uneasily nodded before walking back to the chamber. She was sure that GLaDOS was gunna' murder him. Wheatley was even more panicky than Amy, as he was chanting "I'm gunna die. I'm gunna die. I'm gunna die!".

Amy made it to GLaDOS' chamber and put him down on the floor. "Um….I'll be in my room." She said hastily before running out.

"No stop! Don't leave me here with her!" Wheatley yelled. But he was too late; Amy was gone.

GLaDOS sighed before speaking. "So there, now you know everything." She picked him up and glared at him evilly… again.

"y-y-y-yes it s-s-s-s-seems s-so." He stuttered. Wheatley felt himself being moved towards a wall. He was sure that she was going to drop him down the pit and forget all about him. He closed his eye and waited to be dropped, but then he felt the strangest thing. He was being connected to his management rail.

"Excuse me, but what are you doing?" He asked.

"What does it LOOK like I'm doing, moron?" GLaDOS said.

"I am not a moron! Really though, what are you doing?" Wheatley asked.

"I heard your apology for Chell." GLaDOS said flatly.

"Oh. Well, I did mean it." Wheatley said softly.

"Oh, I know you did." She said. "I also know how guilty you must feel, because I heard that part too."

"Where are you going with this?" Wheatley asked hesitantly.

"Your punishment has been altered a little." GLaDOS said, "Letting you die would be too little of a punishment. I thought that it would be much more painful to let you live with eternal guilt. And because Amy looks so much like her mother, it will be a constant reminder of what you did."

"But I-" Wheatley started to protest.

"Too late. It's already in the systems. You will stay and work in this building for 100 years, or until you explode from guilt, whichever comes first." GLaDOS said smugly.

"Right. Got it." Wheatley said, not sure what to feel right now. Should he feel happy that he got to live, or miserable at the reason why?

"Why are you still here?" GLaDOS asked.

"Oh, um, right, I-I'm leaving." Wheatley said, now backing up and sliding away.

He went to have a look around. From what was in his databases, he could still move around pretty much everywhere he could before. All of his management rails were still in tact, which surprised him a little because he thought that GLaDOS would have gotten rid of those. He was still on the floor that he had started out on when he saw Amy walking out of her room.

"Oi oi!" He yelled to her. She looked over at him and smiled. Wheatley went towards her room and stopped.

"She didn't kill you?" Amy said, shocked and happy.

"Well, considering the fact that I am still here, no. She didn't kill me!" He said happily.

"That's great because I really, REALLY want to ask you something." Amy said excitedly.

"Um, what?" Wheatley asked.

"How did you get here?" Amy asked curiously.

"Well, there were a lot of scientists here when I was made so there really is no way to tell which one made me…" Wheatley said.

Amy laughed before saying, "No, I mean, like, back from space."

"Oh, well, it's a funny story really." Wheatley said. He stopped and looked off into the distance.

"Well?" Amy asked.

"Well what?" Wheatley said.

"What's the story?" Amy yelled.

"Oh right!" Wheatley said. "So, there are a lot of satellites in space, right? Well, one day I was just floating there until one pulled me towards it. So, I'm in the pull of these satellites and then the earth's pull grabs me and next thing I know I'm sitting in a wheat field! Crazy, right? So, anyway I rolled myself to the emergency hatch into Aperture Science, which, I will tell ya' took a very long time. Then I went straight for the cryogenic storage rooms when I saw one that was active. I went in there and dislodged myself from my rail and patiently waited for you to arrive. And that's the story."

"Oh, well that's, anti-climatic." Amy said.

"What do you mean by that? I was probably almost killed 20 times!" Wheatley yelled.

"I was hoping for a pop-tart cat that shoots rainbows to fly you back home. Um, disappointing." Amy said. Wheatley was speechless as Amy thought he would be. She started laughing as she walked back into her room and looked up.

"So this is yours?" Amy asked pointing up to the rail that went about halfway into her room.

"Yes." Wheatley said proudly as he came in.

"I always wondered what that was…" Amy said. She thought it was just some kind of odd support beam.

"So is there any thing else I should know?" Wheatley said, deciding that he really did like Amy.

"Oh, one more thing." Amy said. She went over and picked up her companion cube and walked back over to him. "This is my companion cube."

"Yes, I can see that..." Wheatley said, now thinking that Amy was not as adult as she appeared to be.

"If you destroy it, hurt it, scratch it, touch it, or come near it I will make you wish that GLaDOS had killed you. Got it?" She said cheerfully.

"Loud and clear." Wheatley said frightened. Amy knew that she probably had an unhealthy attachment to that thing, but she didn't care. Wheatley looked around her room until his eye caught the picture of Chell and Amy. "Is that you?" He asked.

Amy smiled as she replied, "yeah."

"What do you remember? About your mother, that is." Wheatley said.

"Not much." Amy replied, "I know that she loved me, and that she would always sing me this song at night. I don't remember what the song was, only that she wasn't the best singer in the world, but it didn't matter to me."

"How long have you been here?" Wheatley asked.

"3 days ago makes 10 years." Amy replied.

"Oh." Wheatley said, astonished at how long she had been here.

"But, it's not like it's a bad thing." Amy said, "GLaDOS loves me and I'm happy here. It's safe and secure."

"Right, safe…." Wheatley said.

At that moment GLaDOS came over the intercom and said, "Amy, your laundry's done."

"Coming!" Amy yelled. "Come on," She yelled to Wheatley, "I'm sure you have lots of stories about what this place use to be like, and I want to hear them!" Amy walked out the door and Wheatley was close to follow. He had decided that he was happy to be alive and, since Amy apparently forgave him, he wouldn't let GLaDOS get to him.

His life had begun.

**A/N:**

**Kate: Nyan cat? Really?**

**Me: whattttttttt?**

**Kate: You give in to meme's to easily…**

**Me: oh whatever by the way, WHEATLEY!**

**Kate: I thought that you didn't like him…**

**Me: Well, I do like GLaDOS better.**

**Kate: Wheatley is about 70% cuter.**

**Me: Cute is NOT science!**

**Kate: here we go again…**

**Me: Anyway, thank you all for your reviews and please do more like those for this chapter! Also if you don't mind, I updated my profile so if you all would go check it out that would be awesome! **

**Kate: *cough cough* pop quiz *cough cough***

**Me: oh yeah. POP QUIZ! What was the release date for the original portal game? BONUS: when was portal 2 released?**

**Kate: Bye bye!**


	11. It's just a prank

**A/N:**

**Me: I…..and I just…..and…uh…..**

**Kate: She's been like this all day.**

**Me: and…..and she…and he….and they.**

**Kate: Spit it out!**

**Me: K-Kate, have you seen our reviews?**

**Kate: Yeah, why?**

**Me: Did you notice that there are THREE numbers there now?**

**Kate: oh don't tell me…**

**Me: *deep breath* WE HIT 100 REVIEWS! OMG OMG! When I first started this story, I wasn't even expecting 20 let alone 100! Thank you everyone!**

**Kate: Ok, since she's out of it, I guess I will have to announce the winner to the last quiz thing or whatever. The answer is *half-hearted drum roll* October 9****th**** and the bonus was April 19****th****. The winner is coincidencelss. *Slow clap* You win…..a ride on a mashy spike plate. Enjoy.**

GLaDOS was in her chamber listening to what had been going on for weeks. Amy and Wheatley had become very close friends, with one difference.

They fought, a lot.

Right now, they were having an argument about something (GLaDOS stopped keeping track a long time ago). She had heard enough as she yelled, "Ok that's enough! Moron, you're a moron. Amy, you have homework. There, now go!"

"Now what kind of fix is that?" Wheatley whined.

"If it gets the two of you to shut up, it's a good one." GLaDOS hissed.

Amy looked at the camera crossly before walking off into her room. She threw herself onto her bed and screamed into her pillow. Sometimes that little pain drove her absolutely insane! This time he wasn't going to get away with it.

"He will _learn_ not to mess with me!" Amy said. She got up and started doodling in her sketchpad. This was going to be good.

The next day Amy was testing again and was using propulsion gels. She pushed the button and the orange gel started pouring out. Amy pulled out a beaker she had brought with her (it was Aperture Science built, so the emancipation grill didn't fizzle it), and casually walked over to it. She put the beaker under the gel and filled it up.

"What are you-" GLaDOS started to ask. Amy shushed her in fear that Wheatley would know something was up.

Amy capped off her beaker and put it back in her uniform. When she finished the chamber she walked into the hall.

"Wow, I am tired. I think I would like to leave now." Amy said as she walked back to the elevator.

"Already? I usually have a hard time convincing you out after 10 chambers! You've only completed 1!" GLaDOS said, redirecting the elevator.

"Yep. I think I want to go back to bed." Amy said, taking off her boots.

"Are you ok?" GLaDOS asked, sincerely worried about her.

"Yeah, just tired." Amy said.

"Well ok…" GLaDOS replied as Amy got into the elevator.

When Amy got back to GLaDOS' chamber, she put her gun on the podium and started to walk out. However, before she made it to the door, GLaDOS locked it.

"Why did you smuggle testing equipment out of the testing area?" GLaDOS asked impatiently.

"Lets just say that Wheatley won't be fighting with me anymore." Amy said.

"What?" GLaDOS said, not following.

"You'll see." Amy said, with a sly smile.

"Ok…" GLaDOS said opening the door.

Amy walked out and went to Wheatley's management rail. She checked to make sure that he wasn't coming and took out the beaker.

"You did this to yourself." Amy said as she uncapped the bottle. She poured the gel on the part of the rail that slanted downwards. After she was done she walked to the other side and called for Wheatley. He rounded the corner and stopped about 3 feet away from the gel.

"What is it?" He asked.

"GLaDOS changed her mind. She wants to tell you how smart she thinks you are." Amy yelled.

"Really?" Wheatley yelled excitedly. He started speeding as fast as he could towards the gel. He hit it and screamed as he sped forward with no control. He made it to a corner and flew off of the rail, slamming into a wall. He landed with an "ow."

Amy stuck her head through the panels and looked down at him. "Moron!" She yelled.

"And for the record," GLaDOS said, "you are still a moron, and I never thought different."

Amy laughed and walked away, filled with pride.

GLaDOS eventually put him back on the rail and told him to not go so fast next time. He felt so stupid about falling, until he saw Amy cleaning his rail.

"What are you doing?" He asked.

"Cleaning off your rail." She said dully.

"Why?" Wheatley asked curiously.

"Getting the propulsion gel off." Amy replied.

"Wait, propulsion gel?" He exclaimed.

"Yeah. Can you believe she's making ME take it off?" Amy said.

"You put it on there!" Wheatley said, now understanding that Amy was the cause for his humiliation.

"Maybe next time you'll think before you fight with me, huh?" Amy said, getting up and walking away.

Wheatley was livid at her and vowed revenge as he sped away.

Amy was in her room a few day's later getting ready for the day. She pulled her hair up and put on her favorite shirt. She didn't know why she cared about how she looked, but it made her feel better. She started towards her door, humming her favorite song, and opened it.

As soon as she opened the door, she became drenched with the ice-cold water. She looked up to see Wheatley above her, holding a bucket with his handles. Amy was absolutely furious.

"HA! Now how's that for a prank?" He said.

"Wheatley," Amy said, barely being able to speak because she was so angry, "You were built specifically to make bad ideas. That was one of them." She looked at him like she would kill him, and then took off running after him.

She ran after him for about 10 minutes before she went into GLaDOS' chamber.

"Why didn't you stop him?" Amy yelled at GLaDOS.

"What are you talking about? And why are you wet?" GLaDOS asked.

"I'm wet because HE dumped water on me which I know you saw!" Amy said.

"I don't know anything about that!" GLaDOS protested.

"Oh, I'm sure that with your MILLION cameras, you happened to miss the one important thing!" Amy yelled.

"If you yell at me one more time you will find yourself grounded!" GLaDOS snapped.

"But I-" Amy started.

"No buts. Now go dry off and get ready for school. And, try not to drip everywhere." GLaDOS said, dismissing her.

Amy growled as she left the room to get changed. She slammed the door when she made it to her room. She was re-combing her hair when she heard a knock at the door.

"What is it moron?" She yelled.

"How did you know it was me?" Wheatley said coming in.

"I highly doubt that it was the president." Amy said sarcastically. "Besides, I'm kind of thankful that you're here."

"So you can kill me?" Wheatley said cautiously.

"Later, but right now I need to tell you something." Amy said. She got up and walked over to her window, looking at GLaDOS' chamber. "She has just been sitting there, watching us go back and forth at each other."

"What are you saying?" Wheatley said, moving as close to Amy as his management rail would allow.

"I say," Amy said, "if were going down, we bring her down with us."

"Are you insane?" Wheatley asked, "She will kill us!"

"No, once again your wrong." Amy said in a very GLaDOS-like voice "I will be fine."

"Oh, well, if you're sure…" Wheatley said, very uneasy.

"Meet me back here after I'm done with school. We can have some fun…" Amy said sneakily.

Amy did school as fast as she could. When she was done she ran back to her room and got a black t-shirt and black pants. Wheatley came in not much longer.

"Ok, so, what are we doing?" Wheatley asked unsure.

"You'll see." Amy said as she walked out. They walked until they saw where all the boxes used in testing were made. Amy snuck over to the stack and pulled out a garbage bag that she had brought. She looked around a little before she started putting boxes in the bag.

"What are you doing?" Wheatley asked. Amy didn't reply, but instead just keep putting boxes in the bag. After about 5 boxes, she sealed off the bag and turned around smiling.

"Now for part two." Amy said. She ran off going to another part of the building where there were 3 huge vats stirring something.

"Wheatley," Amy started, "do you know what this is?"

"Uh, the gel mixing center?" Wheatley said.

Amy smiled. "Ah, I love the smell of freshly mixed gels." She said. Amy picked up a bucket and went over to the repulsion gel. She then, very carefully, filled it up with the gel.

"NOW what are you doing?" Wheatley said, knowing that she was up to no good.

"Come on, we're done here." Amy said, capping off the bucket.

"But I…alright." Wheatley said. The two of them walked off, heading back to the main floor.

"Amy, what's in that bag?" GLaDOS asked when they were at her floor.

Amy didn't look up but just replied dully, "Garbage." They kept going up for about 3 more levels. When they made it to the top, Amy walked through a door that said "CAUTION! DO NOT ENTER!" On the other side was a catwalk that went across to the top of GLaDOS' chamber.

"Come on." Amy said as she stepped out.

"Uh, I have a bit of a problem." Wheatley said. Amy looked at him frustrated before he continued. "Yeah, no management rail."

"Oh." Amy said as if it were his fault. She went over and dislodged him. "I'm NOT doing this alone." She said demandingly.

"Right." He said, now shaking in her arms. Amy threw her bag over her shoulder and held Wheatley under her arm.

"You're heavy, you know that?" Amy said starting to walk forward.

"How do you know about this place?" Wheatley asked, completely ignoring Amy's insult.

"Just some exploring." Amy said. She laughed a little before saying, "Man, what my mother wouldn't have given to find this."

Wheatley let out a dry, humorless laugh. "Right, your mother." He said sadly. They walked in silence until she made it to the end of the catwalk. Amy hopped off the end and stood on the roof of the chamber. She opened the bag and grabbed for the bucket. She took a deep breath before pouring the gel into the bag. Amy closed the bag before the boxes could bounce out. It took all the strength she had in her, but the bag stayed closed. Amy walked over to one of the panels near the edge and lifted it up. She stuck her head in and yelled, "Hey! Aunt GLaDOS!"

"What? How did you get up there? Come down here this instant!" GLaDOS yelled back at her.

"Umm, later." Amy said smugly.

"Do you know how much danger you are in? I swear the moment you get down here you are in so much trouble!" GLaDOS screamed.

"Well, if I'm already in trouble…" Amy said. She reached over and poured the entire bag of repulsion gel-covered boxes into the chamber, sending boxes flying in every direction.

"What the-OW!" GLaDOS yelled as a box hit her right on her optic.

Amy fell back on the roof, barreled over in laughter. Wheatley was rolling in his casing, laughing hysterically. Amy looked over at him and slowly stopped laughing.

"Now," Amy said, wiping a tear from her face, "About that incident this morning." Amy slowly picked up the bucket again and Wheatley's laughter stopped. "I think we can find a happy medium."

Not 10 seconds later, Wheatley was flying around GLaDOS' chamber, covered in repulsion gel just like the boxes, screaming as loud as he could.

"You know that-ow-this is all your-OW-fault!" Wheatley screamed as he was flying.

"What did you say to me?" GLaDOS' yelled at him while trying to grab some of the boxes, but so far not catching even one.

"You raised her like this! You made her evil, just like you!" He yelled.

GLaDOS ignored him, but about after 5 minutes of listening to the moron scream, she finally yelled "AMY CAROLINE MURPHY AS SOON AS I FIX THIS YOU ARE GOING TO PAY!"

Amy was in the security room, watching the whole thing on security footage from a safe distance with a smile on her face, laughing every time one of them got hit.

After about 20 minutes, GLaDOS had finally gotten all the boxes into the incinerator and Wheatley back onto his rail. Not much later, Amy walked in drinking water.

"Sup?" Amy said causally.

"Sup? You almost killed me and all you can say is 'sup'?" GLaDOS said, dumbfounded.

"Ok then…how do you do?" Amy said, equally calm.

"Oh don't get smug." GLaDOS said, coming closer to her. "Do you have any idea how much trouble you are in?"

"I see us as even." Amy said, putting her water on the floor. "Wheatley ruined my outfit this morning and you lied about knowing anything about it. I took matters into my own hands."

"I did what?" GLaDOS said, "Is that what this is about?"

"Yep, and now were even." Amy said.

"Amy, I have a blind spot right above your door. I didn't know he was there!" GLaDOS said.

"Huh?" Amy said, not following. GLaDOS sighed and made the nearest camera to Amy's room come up on the monitor. To Amy's surprise, there was a Wheatley-sized blind spot right above her door.

"O-oh." Amy said nervously. She slowly started to walk backward to the door as she said fearfully, "Well then, I guess that this was just a big misunderstanding. I think that we can put this behind us and get back to work. I mean, lots of science to get done, right?" Amy turned around swiftly when she made it to the door, but it slammed shut right in her face. "hehehe. Did I mention sorry?" She said turning around. GLaDOS picked her up and held her closer to her 'face'.

"Well, that's a start…" GLaDOS said.

"Uh, very VERY sorry.." Amy said trying to pry the claw apart, but failing…miserably. "I'm dead, aren't I?" Amy said, releasing her grip.

"Oh don't worry," GLaDOS said, "I've got PLENTY in store for you." Amy gulped as she was lowered to the floor. "You'll see." GLaDOS said smugly.

That night, Amy was cleaning out some of the test chambers. Not just sweeping the floor either, DEEP cleaning. Like, your-not-leaving-until-every-piece-of-dirt-is-gone deep.

"Not only do I have to clean out every single working chamber, but she's also grounding me until I'm done!" Amy yelled at Wheatley, who was watching her from his management rail. "Can you believe this?" She said.

"Hey, don't think I'm happy about this either!" Wheatley said, "She's making me work overtime!"

"How can a robot work overtime?" Amy asked grabbing another trash bag.

"By not making idle conversations." GLaDOS said, "Now go! Amy has a lot of work to do."

Wheatley sped off and Amy looked up at a camera.

"You're really going to make me clean all of this?" Amy complained.

"This and 18 more." GLaDOS reminded her.

"But that's going to take forever!" Amy whined.

"Then you better get back to work!" GLaDOS snapped.

Amy growled before turning back to her work and sighing. "This is just cruel." Amy said under her breath. She grabbed her broom and got back to work.

GLaDOS had made it clear that Amy's next few days would be sleep, school, eat, clean, and then sleep again until all of the chambers were clean. Needles to say, Amy hated it. After about 3 hours of cleaning (in which she got only 2 chambers done, since she spent most of the time complaining) Amy started back to her room to go to sleep.

Amy was half-asleep when she made it to her floor. She stepped on to the catwalk with her eyes barely open. She went to open her door but her hand missed the handle. Then it missed it again. And again and again and then again! She finally did open her eyes to see that there was no door at all. In fact, there was no room either. Amy looked around to make sure that she was in the right place, and she knew that she was.

"but I…..and how…where….and…..AUNT GLaDOS!" Amy yelled. GLaDOS' mechanical laughter filled the intercom. "This is NOT funny!" Amy said. GLaDOS just ignored her and continued laughing, even Caroline was having a hard time containing her laughter.

After about 20 minutes of Amy almost begging for her room back, GLaDOS did give it back. She had just moved it around the corner as a little prank. Amy walked in and slammed the door behind her. For a moment she was mad, but all of the sudden she was curled up on the floor laughing so hard that she couldn't get back up.

"_Ok,"_ Amy thought, _"I have to admit, that was really funny." _ Amy finally got into bed but still couldn't stop laughing.

Until she remembered that she was supposed to be mad at GLaDOS.

Then she let out a "Humph." And went to sleep, but still giggling on occasions.

She fell asleep thinking of what would be her next prank.

**A/N:**

**Me: But it's ironic, isn't it?**

**Kate: uh huh, whatever you say.**

**Me: I mean, 100 reviews on the **_**10th**_** chapter? How often does that happen?**

**Kate: E, the readers?**

**Me: OH! Sorry guys. So, *said like Chell* Hello!**

**Kate: That's you, that's how dumb you sound!**

**Me: Before Portal that probably would have insulted me. Anyway, sorry this chapter took so long to get out. My life kind of got busy.**

**Kate: You know you had writers block too…**

**Me: I WILL NEVER ADMIT TO THAT ****even though its true.**** So, who's ready for a pop quiz!**

**Kate: Not me.**

**Me: You're like a constant downer, huh? Anyway POP QUIZ! *Jeopardy music* in Portal ****2****, there were 3 people who voiced the 3 main characters. Not counting the announcer, what were the names of the voice actors? Hint: The 3 characters I'm thinking of names start with G, W, and C. Good luck!**

**Kate: and let's try to get to 150 reviews!**

**Me: Also new facebook 'like' page! If you "like" the story, "like" me on facebook! Link on my profile!**

**Kate: *facepalm* Worst…joke…ever…**

**Me: Yeah, I know. Anyways, please review what you think of the story! Bye bye!**

**Kate: Later!**


	12. Her name is Caroline

**A/N:**

**Me: hum, well, this is a first….**

**Kate: what?**

**Me: I don't have any thing to say.**

**Kate: oh. **

**Me: Uh, the answer to the last pop quiz was…*drum roll* Ellen McLain was GLaDOS, Stephen Merchant was Wheatley, and J.K. Simmons was Cave Johnson. The winner is-**

**Kate: AHHHHHHH!**

**Me: WHAT IS YOUR PROBLEM?**

**Kate: I don't know, this author's note is boring me…**

**Me: ooookkkkkk. The winner is *more drum roll* Amythista!**

**Kate: Your prize is…your name in the authors note, done. **

**Me: oh, and Mainstay, the answer is Alesia Glidewell.**

"So bored." Amy said, leaning back in her chair. She was sitting in an office, staring at a wall.

"Well, why not do testing?" Wheatley suggested.

"GLaDOS will only let me do 19 chambers a day." Amy whined.

"Why not go on the internet?" Wheatley said.

"The internet is boring." Amy said, now rocking her chair back and forth.

"Uh, well why don't you…oh I have no clue honestly!" Wheatley said. He sped off leaving Amy with her thoughts.

"Well he was no help." Amy said. She sighed before getting up and walking out. She went into one of the offices and looked through some the cabinets for about the 50th time.

She couldn't find anything interesting until she looked in the very back of the cabinet and saw something that blended in with the wood. Amy reached back and pulled it out.

"What is that?" GLaDOS asked, seeing that she had gotten something out.

"I think it's a key or something." Amy said, inspecting it.

"Let me see." GLaDOS said. Amy held the key up to the camera so that GLaDOS could examine it. "I have no clue what that thing goes to." GLaDOS said. She remembered that Amy was bored and got an idea. "Amy, you have a new job. Go figure out what that opens."

Amy shrugged and got up. She walked away, putting the key in every keyhole she came across. When she was about to give up, she found the answer. It opened a safe in Cave Johnson's office. Inside there was a VHS tape with a note under it. Amy took them both out and read the note.

_Due to federal regulations, we are not permitted to destroy this security footage. However, please be advised that this does not reflect the views of Aperture Science and should not be viewed. Thank you. –Management. _

Now Amy's curiosity was burning. What does that mean? What's on the tape? Who exactly was "Management"? Amy flipped the paper over; in messy handwriting someone had written "She will be missed." Amy knew that she had no access to a VHS player, but she knew someone who did.

Amy went to GLaDOS and told her the whole story.

"Oh, I see." GLaDOS said after Amy was done explaining the note.

"So, do you know what's on the tape?" Amy asked.

"I can honestly say that I have no clue." GLaDOS said, with equal curiosity.

"Does Caroline know?" Amy asked, knowing that GLaDOS wouldn't like that question but asking it anyway.

"_I don't know either."_ Caroline said, coming out of her hiding spot.

"Just leave it on the floor, I'll look at it later." GLaDOS said, completely ignoring Caroline.

"Oh no!" Amy said, "_I_ found it, _I_ wanna see it!"

"Fine, after I look at it." GLaDOS said smugly.

"I want to see it first hand!" Amy said stubbornly. GLaDOS didn't respond, so Amy continued, "Look, I know about you and mom. I know that you tried to kill everyone once. I know about the whole 'Bring your daughter to work day' thing. I know about everything! What could be on here that I don't already know?"

GLaDOS sighed. She was right; there really wasn't much that Amy didn't already know about. "Fine." GLaDOS said. "The tape player is in the other room. Go put it in and I'll bring it up on the monitor." Amy ran out and put the tape in the player. She came back with an office chair and sat down behind GLaDOS. At about the same time, Wheatley came in.

"What are you two doing?" He asked. Amy shushed him and looked back at the screen. There was static for a moment before the video came on, so GLaDOS dimed the lights so that the screen was clearer.

There were about 7 people standing in a hall. Five of them, wearing long white lab coats, formed a semi-circle around a woman who was holding a small baby. There was a man facing the woman. He seemed to look down on her and was angry. He had a cane in one had and his fist balled up in the other.

"But sir, I-" The woman said. Her voice sounded on the verge of tears as she held her baby closer to her.

"Are you insane! We've been planning this for over a year and now you chose to back out?" The man yelled harshly, his voice rising significantly.

"Sir, I never wanted this!" The woman pleaded.

"It's because of that child, isn't it?" The man said. "Caroline, you're a Scientist, not a mother!"

"Sir, please! I don't want this!" Caroline yelled. The baby in her arms, who couldn't have been 4 months old, woke up and started looking around.

"We agreed to this! Think of the company!" The man barked. That yell threw him into a coughing fit and two people rushed to his side. He promptly waved them off and looked back at Caroline.

"Chell needs me!" She yelled.

"Caroline," The man said. He put his and on her shoulder but she stepped back.

"Get your hands off of me!" She yelled.

That sent him into a full-blown rage as he yelled; "You are going in that computer if its that last thing I do!" He went into another coughing fit. Caroline turned around to run away, but as she turned, someone stuck a needle in her arm. She collapsed on the floor. One of the female scientists grabbed Chell before she could hit the ground.

"Good. Now, take her into the GLaDOS chamber. " The man said as two other people picked Caroline up and put her on a stretcher.

"Mr. Johnson," The woman who was holding Chell said, "What do I do with her child?"

"How should I know? Just give her to an orphanage or something." He said, walking off with the stretcher following.

The woman walked off with the child. Chell was now screaming. The tape cut off after that.

Everyone in the room was silent for a moment. It was the worst kind of silence too…Awkward. After a moment, Amy and Wheatley quietly left the room.

"Why didn't you tell me?" GLaDOS said.

"_Tell you what?"_ Caroline said.

"That you were forced in here." GLaDOS replied

"_Would it have made any difference?"_ Caroline said, wishing that GLaDOS would just be quiet.

"Well, no. Not really." GLaDOS said honestly. There was a pause before Caroline spoke up again.

"_When they put me in here, my memories came as well. However, they were only looking for my personality. So some of my memories got pushed back and others deleted. Honestly, I forgot that happened." _Caroline said. _"But, now I remember what happened after that."_

There was another pause before GLaDOS said, "Show me." Caroline pulled out the memory file.

Her vision was blurry when she opened her eyes. It took her a moment to realize that she was on a metal table with something on her head. She could hear talking, and knew that, with the acoustics in the room, she must be in the GLaDOS chamber. Her eyes sprung open and Caroline tried to sit up, only to realize that she was strapped down.

"Hey!" She yelled as loud as she could. Every head turned toward her. Many yelling, "She's awake! She's awake!" Her eyes went over to Cave who was standing in the corner.

"Do it now!" Cave yelled.

"But sir!" One of the scientists said.

"Now!" Cave yelled again. The scientist looked over at Caroline fearfully before closing his eyes and pulling a lever. All Caroline had time to say was "no" before a white-hot pain shot through her body. She screamed as loud as possible, a scream that would haunt everyone in that room for the rest of their lives. One by one… every memory, every trait, every single thing in her mind was being transcribed into beta and stored into a file. She fell out in and out of conciseness. One second it was white, the next black. She knew that she was still there, but not in her body. She was in something MUCH bigger than herself. Finally, the black took over. That was it.

She was inside GLaDOS.

"I don't remember any of that!" GLaDOS said.

"_You were off-line when it happened."_ Caroline said on the verge of an emotional breakdown.

"So what happened after that?" GLaDOS asked, hating the fact that she stopped right when the story was getting good.

"_You already know! You were there!"_ Caroline said.

"Yes, but my memory banks were damaged when Chell killed me! What happened?" GLaDOS asked. Caroline sighed and pulled up more files.

After she was put in, she became very confused. She couldn't tell her arm to move, or her eye to look to the left or right. All she could do was think and nothing else. All of the sudden everything lit up. '0's and '1's flew past and she could see every tape from every camera. Then she saw something she really wished she hadn't. There was a plan to kill everyone and everything on bring your daughter to work day.

"Caroline?" She heard someone say. It sounded like the voice of a scientist coming from outside. She looked towards the main video as she saw him approaching it.

"_I'm in here! Please get me out! She is not dead! She is going to kill everybody!"_ Caroline yelled.

"What was that? Not another core!" She heard a metal voice say. She knew that the scientists didn't hear it.

Caroline panicked as she searched for any place to hide. She saw a spot that was not being used and hid there.

"I can see you." The voice said wickedly. GLaDOS put up a firewall between Caroline and everything else, trapping her.

"_What? No no no!"_ Caroline yelled, but it was too late. GLaDOS could no longer hear her. Everything was shut off again including Caroline.

They weren't woken up until 3 years later on bring your daughter to work day. Caroline watched everything from BYDTWD, to her own daughters demise. She countless times yelled, "I DID NOT ABANDON HER!" but GLaDOS could not hear her. When GLaDOS was put into the potato, so was Caroline. The potato was small and cramped, so a lot of things were taken out, including the firewall between GLaDOS and Caroline. GLaDOS didn't realize it because she had forgoten that Caroline was there. Caroline wasn't about to say anything.

When she was in the potato, getting eaten by a bird, all she could think was, _"Well, this is it. After all this time my daughter is going to die a horrible death and I'm just going to disappear."_

Then she saw that Chell was alive, and words couldn't describe her joy.

After a while, Caroline heard the voice of Cave and all she thought was, _"That monster."_ Until she heard GLaDOS say "Caroline. Caroline. Caroline. Caroline why do I know this woman? Did I kill her? Or-" Caroline figured that GLaDOS was going to figure it out some time or another.

"_It's me."_ Caroline said, finally saying something.

GLaDOS was in shock. "Oh my God. Look, your doing a great job. Can you handle things on your own for a bit? I need to think." She said to Chell. "What are you still doing here? I thought you were gone!" GLaDOS said bitterly, addressing Caroline.

"_I never left."_ Caroline said.

"Go away. No one here wants you." GLaDOS said, trying not to fry the potato.

"_You need me, though."_ Caroline said.

"Why would I EVER need YOU?" GLaDOS snapped.

"_Because everyone needs a voice of reason."_ Caroline said calmly.

When GLaDOS was finally put back into her body, Caroline told her _"You need to make sure that she won't come back."_

"I know, I'm going to kick her out." GLaDOS said.

"_No, I mean, she needs to never scome back. She thinks it's safe because I'm here now." _Caroline told her.

"Then what do you propose I do about it?" GLaDOS asked.

"_Delete me."_ Caroline said flatly.

"You want me to do what?" GLaDOS said, that being the last thing she expected her to say.

"_You heard me. If Chell will stay gone, it's worth it." _Caroline said.

"If your sure…" GLaDOS started to say.

When the moment came that Chell woke up, GLaDOS started her speech about being Caroline. Caroline braced herself. _"This is it." _She thought. She heard GLaDOS say, "Where Caroline lives in my brain" and got ready to be there no more. Then the strangest thing happened, she heard "Caroline deleted" but she was still there. After Chell was gone Caroline said, _"I'm still here, you know."_

"If you'll excuse me, I want to see what these robots are capable of." GLaDOS said, turning her attention back to work. Caroline didn't ask questions, but instead just watched her test the robots.

"_There, so now you know. Any questions?"_ Caroline said sarcastically.

"So, you just stayed there for all those years?" GLaDOS asked.

"_Yes, in fact, I did."_ Caroline said.

"Oh." GLaDOS said flatly.

There was yet another pause before Caroline asked, _"Do you know what happened to her?"_

"To who?" GLaDOS asked.

"_Chell. After they took her, where did she go? Do you have any footage?"_ Caroline asked.

"I was off-line when they took her. There is footage, but I don't have it." GLaDOS said, wishing more than anything that she did.

"_I understand."_ Caroline said. _"GLaDOS, I was forced against my will into a computer who hurt my daughter too many times to count." _GLaDOS didn't have a response to that, so Caroline kept talking _"However, they say everything has a bright side, and if I have to chose one…" _Caroline looked at footage that wascoming from the kitchen. She saw Amy and Wheatley talking and Amy was smiling. Caroline smiled at that before saying _"I got to see her be born, and watch her grow up. Even though I'm not your biggest fan, Amy thinks the world of you. Keep it that way, ok?"_

GLaDOS thought for a moment before replying, "Fine, but not because of you. It's for Amy."

Caroline laughed a little. _"Ok."_ She said. Caroline went back into GLaDOS' brain. She had said enough for one day.

**A/N: **

**Kate: Oh come on!**

**Me: no.**

**Kate: It's not exactly easy to get a job, you know!**

**Me: Kate you were in a story but I stopped it! Why can't you just go away like every other character? **

**Kate: You know that Amy's going to be a forgotten character too one day!**

**Me: No, that won't happen because, unlike you, I LIKE Amy.**

**Amy: hehe, I'm in the author's notes…**

**Kate and I: SHUT UP!**

**Kate: how come SHE gets to be in the notes for her story and you never let me be in mine?**

**Me: Because your story was a SCRIPT! There are no author's notes!**

**Kate: You play favorites! **

**Me: Well, look who finally got it right! I thought you were supposed to be smart!**

**Kate: FINE! POP QUIZ! In the "Portrait of a Lady" with Caroline, what color is her dress?**

**Me: That's my line!**

**Kate: you were too slow.**

**Me:….I hate you….**

**Kate: See you in the next chapter! Bye!**

**Me: *long pause* uh, Kate?**

**Kate: what is it now?**

**Me: I think that were still on…**

**Kate: No, I turned it off. **

**Me: Doesn't the red light mean that we're still on?**

**Kate: I don't see what your…..oh… *Cuts off***


	13. I see you

**A/N:**

**Me: *facepalm***

**Kate: What?**

**Me: I am so stupid…**

**Kate: ok, again I say, what?**

**Me: How could I miss that? It's such an important detail!**

**Kate: I give up.**

**Me: Cave was dead when Caroline was put into GLaDOS! Kate, quick! Give me an excuse! My story must have no holes!**

**Kate: Ok, how about this: Cave was too sick and he couldn't be put into GLaDOS so Caroline stepped up and then later found out that she was pregnant.**

**Me: It's a stretch but it'll do. Ok, now for the winner. The answer was…. *drum roll* white! And the winner is Amythista! You get your name put in another chapter!**

**Kate: woo.**

**Me: oh, and if you all are wondering what took me so long with this chapter, ask Valve. They're the ones who released the DLC for Portal 2 a day EARLY (not late, I was shocked)! Needless to say, I have been busy. ^.^**

Amy slammed her pillow over her head. It was 3:00 in the morning and she could not go to sleep. Why you ask? Well, who could sleep with all the yelling going on just a few yards away from her room. Wheatley and GLaDOS had been yelling at each other for hours! It didn't matter that GLaDOS had it so her voice was broadcast only in her chamber; they were still so loud that Amy could hear every word clearly.

"_Can't they just speak beta to each other?"_ Amy thought as she gave up on sleeping and stood up. She was exhausted, but there was no way she was sleeping in here. Amy grabbed the blanket and pillow off of her bed and marched out.

"Why are you still awake?" GLaDOS asked. Amy didn't answer; she only kept walking up some stairs.

She went to one of the observation rooms that happened to have a couch. She threw her pillow on it and laid down. She was almost asleep when she heard the door to the test chamber below open.

"_Really? Really?"_ She thought as she tried to block out the noise. Every 2 seconds a portal gun would fire or an aerial faith plate would snap. After 30 minutes, Amy had had enough.

"_You'd think that after more than 10 years that they would know that I need sleep!" _Amy thought angrily as she once again marched out of the room. She went into Cave Johnson's office and slammed the door behind her. Amy went over to the desk and pulled the leaver underneath. She went into her secret room and laid her blanket on the floor. She put he pillow down and laid on her blanket. It was cold, but she did get some sleep.

Later that day, Wheatley was roaming around on his management rail trying to find something to do. He saw Amy walk out of GLaDOS' chamber. Amy had been testing so she was probably just returning the portal gun. She walked to her room faster than normal. She was also wearing her jumpsuit the right way. He heard her door shut before he headed over to her room. He hovered over her door for a moment to see if he could hear anything. He didn't, so he went in. When Wheatley entered, he saw her sitting on her bed with her left arm pulled out of the suit. On her upper arm was blood, lots of blood, coming out of a wound on her left shoulder.

"Oh my- Amy what happened?" Wheatley asked panicked.

"Don't you ever knock!" Amy yelled as she started to pull her arm back into her sleeve. When she jerked her shoulder back, she quickly grabbed it and whimpered in pain.

"That's blood. That's A LOT of blood. Did I ever tell you that I'm not very good with blood?" Wheatley said, sounding like he was on the verge of passing out.

Amy got up and closed the door. "I got shot, ok." Amy said.

"Shot? By a turret?" Wheatley asked.

"No, by a shoe that fell from the ceiling!" Amy said sarcastically

"How did a shoe get on the ceiling?" Wheatley said, completely not picking up on her sarcasm.

"It was a turret, Wheatley!" Amy yelled, not in the mood for him right now.

"Oh. You have never been shot before!" Wheatley said.

"I was tired and I didn't see him." Amy said frustrated.

"Well, what is GLaDOS doing about it?" Wheatley asked.

"Nothing. She doesn't know." Amy said walking back over to her bed.

"How does she not know that you got shot? She sees everything!" Wheatley shouted.

Amy shushed him. "I was a little on edge from not getting any sleep last night and I might have destroyed the camera in the chamber." Amy said sitting down.

"Amy, this could be serious! There have been test subjects that have died because they got shot!" Wheatley said. "You have to tell her."

"No, I don't." Amy said, looking back at her shoulder. "If she finds out I will never get to test again."

"Then what do you plan to do? You can't just let it sit!" Wheatley said.

"I can fix it on my own. It will heal and she will never know." Amy said stubbornly.

"That's insane! You are going to go tell her right now!" He yelled.

"No! She overreacts to everything! I cough once and I'm on bed rest for a week!" Amy said.

"Fine then. I'll tell her." Wheatley said, starting to leave.

"No! You can't!" Amy said springing up. A sharp pain came from her shoulder causing her to cringe and sit back down.

"Uh huh." Wheatley said smugly. "You honestly think you can handle this by yourself?"

"Just let me try." Amy said, "If it gets worse I'll get her help, ok?"

Wheatley sighed. "Fine. But how exactly do you plan to get a bandage without her knowing?"

"Easy. Just wait here for a minute." Amy said as she stood up again. She went to her closet and got Jeans and a long-sleeved shirt. She went into her bathroom to get changed. Every so often, Wheatley would hear a "ow" probably because she was moving too much. "There," Amy said, emerging from the bathroom. She pulled her collar down on the left side, revealing a bandage wrapped around her shoulder. "All fixed."

"So you're just going to wear long sleeve shirts until this heals?" Wheatley asked. Amy nodded. "You do know that it's July, right? She's going to know something's wrong."

"Stop worrying about it! I kept baby birds for weeks without her knowing! I think I can pull this off." Amy said smugly. "Now you are NOT going to say anything, got it?" Wheatley backed up and nodded. "Good. Now if you'll excuse me, I want dinner." Amy got up and walked out of the room. Wheatley did not have a good feeling about this.

The next day Amy was getting ready when Wheatley came in. He stared at her for a moment before she spoke.

"Hey." She said.

"How are you? Have you realized that this is a horrible idea yet?" Wheatley said.

"I'm fine." Amy said flatly.

"Does it hurt?" He asked.

"No, not much." Amy lied. In reality, she had been up half the night in pain, and it didn't get better in the morning.

"Oh. Well if you're sure…" Wheatley said. He watched her try to put her hair up in a ponytail with one hand, which frustrated her immensely. After she was ready, which took twice as long as usual, she headed out to go do school.

"What took you so long?" GLaDOS asked when Amy walked in.

"I couldn't find any clean shirts." Amy said.

"Why are you wearing a that shirt in the summer?" GLaDOS asked.

"I was cold." Amy said as she sat down at her desk.

"If you say so." GLaDOS said. Amy pulled out her textbook and they started the lesson.

While Amy was in school, Wheatley was thinking of all the horrible things that could happen to her. She could die of lead poisoning, or maybe it could get infected, OR what if the praying-mantis DNA got in there and she turned into a praying-mantis? "Oh my God! GLaDOS would kill me if that happened!" Wheatley said to himself, "Oh, and we would have no choice but to kill Amy, so there's that."

When Amy got out of school, she went to her room. After about an hour of waiting, GLaDOS said, "Hey, moron, go check on Amy."

"Ok, first, NOT a moron. Second, why would you want me too? Is there something wrong?" Wheatley whined.

"First, yes you are. Second, no, but she has been on her computer for the last hour and she usually would rather draw or do testing. Go see if she's ok." GLaDOS said.

"Oh, alright then." Wheatley said as he sped towards her room. Any excuse for him to make sure that she was ok was good enough for him.

Wheatley paused at the door, what if she was dead? Or what if she was a praying-mantis? She would kill him for sure! He closed is optic and went in anyway.

"Amy, I need to tell you something." Wheatley said as he came in.

"Again with the knocking! It really isn't that hard!" Amy said as she got up to close the door behind him. Wheatley's optic snapped open, relieved at finding her a normal living human being.

"Listen, Amy, she is on to you." Wheatley said.

"WHAT?" Amy said, whipping around. She again grabbed her shoulder in pain.

"You've been on your computer for too long. What are you doing?" Wheatley asked.

"Being bored out of my mind." Amy said.

"I'm not following." Wheatley said, pulling in his optic to make a confused expression.

"Yeah, what else is new." Amy said, "If I'm on the computer long enough, I can tell her I have a headache and take pain killers."

"I thought you said you weren't hurting!" He yelled.

"Ok, I lied!" Amy said. "I'll clean it and put a new bandage on tonight."

"You better! I'm very worried about this, Amy." Wheatley said with concern.

"I'll be fine." Amy said as she walked out with her bag on her right shoulder. Wheatley could hear her yell "Hey, Aunt GLaDOS," as she walked away her voice faded. At this point he knew; she was in trouble.

Later Amy came back and put her bag down on the bed. She pulled out some gauze and two bottles of medicine. One was painkillers', the other something to put on the bandages.

"How did you sneak the other things around her?" Wheatley asked, not amused.

"They were in the same cabinet." Amy said, picking up on his irritation. She took two of the pills. She then went to her hamper and got a tank top out. Amy went to her bathroom to put it on and came back out with a wet washcloth in her hand. She sat back down on her bed and started to unwrap the bandages.

"Wow," Amy said, "It's swollen up a lot, hasn't it?" She put the washcloth on it and flinched a few times while she got the gauze unraveled and put the medicine on it. She eventually took the washcloth off and started to put the new bandage on. She kept having to hold her mouth to keep from screaming, and she almost clawed a hole in her mattress. After a few tears, she finally had it wrapped. She carefully pulled a T-shirt over it and practically ordered Wheatley to leave.

That night while she was lying in bed, she wondered how. How could she let her guard down like that? She wouldn't have to go through any of this if she had just looked left, or heard the thing say 'I see you'. She wanted to get real help, but she knew that if she did, GLaDOS would be more disappointed in her more than she ever had been before. She could never find out.

The next day at school, Amy was wearing a long sleeved white shirt. Light enough so that she would not have a heat stroke, but heavy enough to hide her bandages. About an hour after she started school, her left shoulder started feeling very warm. She tried to shake the feeling off, but it wouldn't go away. She finally 'dropped' her pencil on the ground to her left side.

"Oops." Amy said. When she bent down to pick it up, she pulled her collar back to look at her bandages. When she did, she saw that they were bright red.

Amy panicked. She quickly got up, yelled, "I have to go to the bathroom!" and bolted out the door. She went to her room and started unraveling her bandages. Sure enough, the wound was bleeding profusely. In her panic, she yelled "Wheatley!" He came rushing in.

"Amy what is-" He said. When he saw her he gasped. "What happened?"

"I don't know! This wasn't supposed to happen!" Amy said holding her arm. "Help!" She said to him.

"You have to go to her right now!" Wheatley said.

"But I-" Amy started to protest. She was on the verge of tears, but not from pain. Amy was terrified.

"Look, I know that you're scared. In all honesty, I probably would be too, but for different reasons." Wheatley said, "But you NEED her right now."

Amy caved and went to get another tank top on and put a jacket over it. Before she left, she said, "I'm scared."

"It'll be ok. I'm here." Wheatley said. Amy walked out the door and headed towards GLaDOS' chamber. When she got there, GLaDOS asked, "Why did you change your clothes?"

Amy, already half crying, took off her jacket revealing the wound underneath.

"Oh my God! Amy what happened?" GLaDOS asked panicked.

"I got shot by a turret while testing." Amy said.

"You haven't tested in days!" GLaDOS said, already getting the sensors in the room to pick up Amy's elevated temperature.

"I know. This happened 3 days ago." Amy admitted.

"3 days? You just let it sit?" GLaDOS asked in a full panic.

"Well, no. I had it wrapped and I did put some medicine on it." Amy said.

"Go to the ER now! You need better treatment!" GLaDOS ordered. Amy slowly left the room.

While Amy was in the elevator, she had to listen to GLaDOS chew her out. "I can't believe you did this! Out of all the stupid, irresponsible things you have ever done this is the worsest! Do you realize you could have died?"

Amy walked off of the elevator and into the ER. "Sit on that bed." GLaDOS told her. Amy went over and lied down. A blue, grid-like laser went over and scanned her body. "Why didn't you tell me?" GLaDOS asked.

"Because you overact to everything." Amy said.

"Overact? OVERACT?" GLaDOS said, extremely insulted, "You got shot! How did you think I would react?"

"I don't know. I just didn't want you to get mad and not let me test again." Amy said as the light scanned over her again.

"Not let you test? Is that what this is all about?" GLaDOS asked. Amy nodded. "Amy, I would have put you on bed rest for a while but I would have let you test once you were ok!" GLaDOS said.

"What? No you wouldn't have!" Amy said, sitting up.

"Down!" GLaDOS said. Amy laid back down while GLaDOS continued. "When you started testing, I knew that there was a chance of this happening. I was always prepared for you to get hurt."

"Really?" Amy asked.

"Yes, but you can bet that you won't be testing, or anything for that matter, for a VERY long time." GLaDOS said.

"Great." Amy said quietly.

"You did this to yourself." GLaDOS said. Amy looked over at a camera.

"Am I going to be ok?" Amy asked. GLaDOS was silent for a moment.

"I don't know. You kept it clean, so that's good." GLaDOS said "but it wasn't enough."

"Is it bad?" Amy asked.

"I don't know. It's too soon to tell." GLaDOS said. "You can get up now." Amy sat up and looked at a wall, her stomach in knots. After a long silence, GLaDOS called Wheatley into her chamber.

"Did you get anything back yet?" He asked.

"Yes." GLaDOS said.

"Well, what does it say?" Wheatley asked curiously.

"The wound is infected." GLaDOS said solemnly.

"Oh my." Wheatley said. "So, what can we do?"

"Well, I plan to give her a heavy anti-biotic. That should work." GLaDOS told him.

"Oh, good. You know, for a crazy, manic AI you do know how to take care of things." Wheatley said.

"I'll take that as a compliment." GLaDOS said flatly. "But the key word was _should_."

"What's that mean?" Wheatley asked.

GLaDOS sighed. "It should work. On the off chance that it doesn't work, she will have to go to a hospital to get professional treatment."

"Oh, well that won't be so bad, right?" Wheatley said hopefully.

"She's only 15. She needs a parent to sign her in and out. Legally, I am not her parent." GLaDOS said sadly. "If they find out, they will take her away."

"What?" He said in disbelief. "T-they can't do that!"

"Yes, they can." GLaDOS corrected him, "I'm not even human. She could go to therapy for an emotional attachment to an inanimate object."

"That's insane! You are more capable of taking care of a child than most of the old test subjects would have been!" Wheatley yelled.

"Really?" GLaDOS said.

"Really! I mean, usually you're cold, mean and rude. But you really love Amy and make a wonderful mother!" He said.

"I-I," GLaDOS started to say. "Don't tell Amy about this. She already has to much to worry about." GLaDOS said while turning around.

"Whatever you say." Wheatley said, completely unfazed by the fact that what he said had meant the world to GLaDOS. He went off, leaving her alone.

"Maybe," GLaDOS thought, "He's not so much of a moron after all." About 10 picoseconds passed before GLaDOS thought "Ug! What am I saying?" She turned back to Amy.

"There," GLaDOS said after Amy had gotten the anti-biotic. "In one week, we'll see if it worked."

It was a tension-filled week and everyone was praying for a good result. Amy didn't feel any different, only that she took painkillers every night so she could sleep without her shoulder hurting.

When the week passed, everyone was in GLaDOS' chamber waiting for the results. Amy was holding Wheatley in her lap, tapping her fingers on him.

"How much longer?" Amy asked.

"Calm down. I'm sure there coming in as fast as they can." Wheatley said trying to comfort her (though he was equally curious).

"Aunt GLaDOS?" Amy whined.

"I'm trying." GLaDOS said. Three more minutes passed before the results started coming in. "It says," GLaDOS started. Amy leaned forward in anticipation. "You have no infection." Everyone breathed a sigh of relief. "Just keep a bandage on it and keep it clean. It will heal itself in a month or so."

"Thank God." Amy said, sitting back.

Something strange happened to GLaDOS. She just looked at Amy for a moment. It dawned on her that she was so close to losing the most beautiful thing in her life. Amy was her everything and she was almost gone. As much as she hated to admit it, the moron helped her realize that.

**A/N:**

**Kate: FLUFFAH!**

**Me: With the tiniest bit of WheatDOS! **

**Kate: So, she's 15 now?**

**Me: Yep **

**Kate: Could it be because it's someone's birthday….**

**Me: Shut up. -_- But I got an xbox 360! :D Happy me!**

**Kate: *sigh* No more computer game graphics?**

**Me: YAY! **

**Kate: This author's note is going nowhere.**

**Me: Ok, POP QUIZ! When the old portal website was still working (ApertureScience) The login was CJohnson, what was the password? Hint: the portal project.**

**Kate: see ya' later!**


	14. Wheat field disturbance

**A/N:**

**Me: Ok, chapter 13!**

**Kate: Who wants to hear a funny story?**

**Me: What are you talking about?**

**Kate: Ok, so, a few days ago was her birthday and Elizabeth and her mom were going outside to get in the car. They open the garage to see a balloon tied to a bag. Elizabeth walks over to the bag and guess what's in it? LEMONS! **

**Me: I will find out who did that to me…**

**Kate: The look on your face was priceless!**

**Me: In all seriousness though, that did happen. And it was funny!**

**Kate: The answer to the last POP QUIZ! Was *drum roll* Teir3! **

**Me: the winner is ApertureX! Your prize is….uh, Kate?**

**Kate: what now?**

**Me: I think we're out of prizes.**

**Kate: What? That can't be right- oh. You're right.**

**Me: Um, lets see new prize new prize….. AH here we go! Your prize is….A really REALLY big potato! And sorry about that whole "worset" thing in the last chapter. That was a typo I swear!**

"Ok," Amy said, "When the power goes out, I get that you use the reserve power to power you. That's good and I get that. What I DON'T get is why in the middle August, you decide that it would be a good idea to cut off the AC and lights!" Amy was sitting in GLaDOS' chamber in front of a fan that was plugged into GLaDOS.

"Well I'm sorry but I just set it to the presets from when the power went out last time." GLaDOS said, turning towards Amy. She let her optic shine on Amy, as it was the only light in the room.

"By any chance, when the power went out last time, did I not live here?" Amy said.

"No, not exactly." GLaDOS replied.

Amy sighed. "This really isn't cutting it." She said, wiping the sweat from her forehead. "Is the elevator working?" She asked.

"Yes." GLaDOS said.

Amy got up and left the room. She went into her room and got a book she was reading and her mp3 player (a 16th birthday present) and went to the elevator. She went outside and sat with her back to the old shack. It was still hot, but not as hot as inside.

She read and listened to music for about 30 minutes until she thought she heard something. She took one earphone out and said "Hello?" but there was no reply. She went back to reading when she heard it again. She looked up and swore she heard something moving. She thought that it was probably just a deer and went back to reading. It was quiet until she heard "hello?" Amy froze. She knew that voice was human. Her hands started trembling as she looked up to see a boy with brown hair that looked about her age.

"Who are you?" He asked, looking at her with amazement. Amy couldn't talk, though. She was frozen in fear. This was the first human she had come into contact with in 12 years. She hated it. The boy looked up at the shed. "Um, so this is what's back here. A little bit anticlimactic." He said. Amy sprung to her feet and started to turn around.

"Y-y-y-y-you need to l-l-l-l-eave!" She said, turning around.

"Why? Who are you?" He asked. "Hey, what's wrong? Are you ok?"

"Just go away and don't come back!" She snapped.

"Hey, you wouldn't happen to be…" He started. "Amy Murphy?"

"How do you know my name? Who are you?" Amy said, whipping around and looking livid.

The boy smiled at her before saying, "Everyone back in town knows you. I can't believe you're still alive."

"Why would I be dead?" She said, not following.

"Everyone kind of figured that, if you weren't dead, you would be trapped forever." He said. "Where have you been all this time?"

"None of your business." She said flatly. "Now leave before I have you arrested for trespassing." The threat was hollow. She didn't like talking to him let alone some police. Then it hit her that she didn't know how many times he had been back here, and that was her next question.

"This would be my first." He said, sitting down. Amy didn't exactly like the fact that he was making himself comfortable. "I just needed to get away for a moment." He said. "I'm Lance, by the way."

"Nice to meet you." Amy said with no happiness or kindness in her voice at all.

"So, where have you been?" He asked.

"Like I said, none of your business." She said, sitting down across from him.

"So, I know that you don't go to my school." He said.

"I'm homeschooled, you could say." Amy replied.

"Huh." Lance said as he took something out of his bag. "Grape?" He said holding some up to Amy. She shook her head angrily before he shrugged his shoulders and ate. Again, Amy was not happy about him making himself comfortable.

"Why are you here?" She asked.

"Sara doesn't want me around right now so I went for a hike." He said taking out some water.

"Sara?" Amy asked.

"My adopted mother. She's not exactly mother of the year, though." He said looking down.

"Mom! Oh my God! GLaDOS is going to kill me for talking to a human!" Amy accidently blurted out.

"Who's that?" He asked.

Amy sprung to her feet. "I'm sorry, you seem nice and all but…I don't think she'll be very happy about me talking to a human!" She said gathering her things.

"A human? Uh, have you looked in a mirror lately?" Lance said sarcastically. "Unless you're some sort of android or something."

Amy looked annoyed as she said, "I'm a human!" She turned around to leave.

"Wait! Where are you going?" He said also standing up.

"Home." She said walking away.

"Will I get to see you again?" He asked.

Amy stopped and replied, "no." She walked into the shed and slammed the door behind her.

Lance picked up his backpack and started walking away. He would see her again. He would make sure of it.

"You did what?" GLaDOS yelled at her.

"We just talked!" Amy said.

"Don't you dare ever talk to a human! You're head will get filled with ridiculous notions." GLaDOS told her, "I don't need you to take your mind off of important things, like school or science!"

"You know, I am a human." Amy said.

"Don't get smart with me!" GLaDOS yelled.

Amy growled in frustration and left the room.

The next day Amy knew that she had a shipment coming so she went to right outside the wheat field to see if it was there. She looked down at the curb to see that it was there. Amy picked it up and got about halfway upright before another hand was on top of it. She was terrified until she looked up. Amy sighed.

"Hi again." Lance said.

Amy yanked her package away from him. "Go away and leave me alone!" She snapped.

"How come every time you see me you treat me like a axe murder?" Lance said teasingly.

"You might as well be." Amy said turning around.

"That's it? You're just going to leave?" Lance asked.

"Like I said, I don't want to be around you." Amy said looking back.

"Just answer one thing for me." Lance said.

"Fine." She said, very annoyed.

"You've been there your whole life, haven't you?" Lance asked seriously.

"What-" Amy started to say turning around. She saw a door across the street open and panicked. Amy grabbed Lance by the collar of his shirt and pulled him into the field. When she let go he fell on the ground. "What do you mean by 'there'?" She asked.

"Ok, first, you are A LOT stronger than you look." Lance said standing up, "Second, by there I mean in that old science place."

Amy was now surprised and mad. "How did you know that?" She said stepping up to him and looking him straight in the eyes.

Lance backed up. "Whoa, easy. It's not just me. Everyone knows." He said trying to walk backwards but having Amy follow his every step.

Amy was silent for a moment. "How?" She said stopping.

"After the battle, everyone kind of assumed that your mom put you here." Lance said looking off. Amy looked up at him. It was then that she realized how his brown hair waved in the wind, and brown eyes that shined when he was serious.

"Um," Amy started to say, "So, you were here when that happened?"

"Yeah, but I was 4 so I don't remember much. Only after when I heard that…" He said looking down on her sadly.

"Heard what?" Amy asked, now interested in the human's story.

"I lost my dad." He said closing his eyes.

Amy felt empathy towards him. She had been there before, more than she would like to say. "Before," she said. Lance opened his eyes. "you said that you had an adopted mother."

"My birth mother died after I was born." He said.

Amy was silent again. It was awkward, so she tried to break it with "some luck we have, huh." Amy remarked with a small laugh.

He returned the laugh. "Really." He said. "So, what are your parents' like?"

"Uh…about that…" Amy said rubbing the back of her head. "I should be going." She said turning around fast and starting to walk away.

"Wait!" Lance yelled. "Who's your mom or dad?"

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you." Amy said with a smile.

"Is it that big computer that killed everybody?" Lance said, knowing that there was no way he was right.

Amy turned around faster than she ever had before. "HOW DO YOU KNOW?" Amy yelled in disbelief.

"Wait, WHAT?" Lance said. "I was joking!"

"Oh, a joke. Right haha." Amy said nervously. "I was, um, joking too."

"No, no you weren't." He said. "Your mom, is a computer?"

"That _computer_ was a top secret project that no one, except Aperture Science personnel, was supposed to know about!" Amy yelled. "And SHE is NOT just a computer!"

"Ok, ok calm down. I get it." Lance said backing up again. "But I don't know about top secret. Everyone in town knows about it-uh-her."

"Why can't you people just mind your own business and leave us alone!" Amy said angrily.

"Yesterday you said something about a thing called GLaDOS. Is that her?" Lance asked.

"Yes." Amy said reluctantly, "That's mom."

"Cool. So, do you like it?" Lance asked.

"Her as my mother? Yes." Amy said.

"Doesn't it ever weird you out that your mom is a compu-" Lance started to say.

"AI" Amy said cutting him off.

"There's a difference?" Lance asked.

"More than you know." Amy said. "I think I've said enough. I need to go."

"Wait." Lance said. "Meet me here, tomorrow at 3:00."

"WHY on EARTH would I do that?" Amy asked, now thinking that this human was dumber than Wheatley.

"I just want to talk to you. We can take a walk and I can show you around." Lance said smiling.

Amy sighed. "I'll see." She said as she walked away. In all honesty she did want to hear what he had to say, but there was a slim chance that GLaDOS was going to be ok with this.

Lance walked back to his home, which was just across the street from the wheat field, and quietly closed the door behind him. Sara was in the living room and walked over to him looking mad. She was on the phone wrapping up a conversation. She hung up and looked at Lance.

"Lance!" She yelled. "That was a very important person on the phone! Don't come in here slamming the door!"

"It barely made a sound!" Lance protested.

"If you look in the door and see me on the phone wait outside!" Sara yelled. "I told these people that I don't have children so that I can free more time for them! Think what would happen if they found out!"

"Found out that you're a liar." Lance said.

"I will not be talked to in that way!" Sara yelled picking up the phone about to call someone else.

"Maybe I would be more respectful if you told me what you were working on." Lance said.

"Go do your homework or something." Sara said now on the phone. She talked cheerfully to the person on the other end as Lance walked upstairs.

Back at Amy's house, things weren't going much better. While Amy was out, the reassembly machine hsd jammed. When Amy got back GLaDOS was already irritated and not in the mood to be asked for anything. Amy just went to her room, not saying a word about Lance or tomorrow.

"Absolutely not." GLaDOS said. It was the next day and Amy had just asked her about Lance.

"You didn't even think two seconds about it!" Amy yelled.

"That's because I don't need to." GLaDOS said smugly. "You weren't even supposed to talk to that boy anymore, let alone make plans!"

"I didn't make plans!" Amy yelled.

"Plus I thought you didn't like humans." GLaDOS said. "Is that not true?"

"It is! It's just that I…I…" Amy said. She sat down on the floor. "I'm so confused."

"_This is insane! I can't believe you two are even having this argument!"_ Caroline said.

"I know! I told her once! You'd think she'd get the message!" GLaDOS retorted.

"_I was talking about you!"_ Caroline snapped.

"What? What did I do?" GLaDOS asked.

"_She's a human, GLaDOS! You can't just keep her from her own species!" _Caroline yelled.

"Humans are just so wild! I don't want her getting hurt!" GLaDOS said.

"_As a former human I feel the need to say that you are being completely stereotypical!"_ Caroline shouted.

"I have seen thousands of different types of test subjects! I think I know what I'm talking about!" GLaDOS said.

"_I know the real reason you don't want her to leave. You think that if she goes she'll she how amazing the outside world is and leave you. Just like Chell did after Amy was born. You don't want to be left alone."_ Caroline said.

"That's is completely untrue!" GLaDOS protested.

"_I can see your thoughts! Don't try to lie!"_ Caroline said. There was silence for a moment. _"Give the girl a chance. She's smarter than you think." _She said calming down.

"It's not her that I don't trust." GLaDOS said. "It's the rest of the world."

"_Every mother thinks that."_ Caroline said comfortingly. _"If you insist on being the overbearing mother, there are a lot of old cell phones that belonged to test subjects and scientists. If you want you can add a tracking code on one and be able to talk to Amy at any time. That way everyone wins. You get tabs on Amy, Amy gets to do what she wants, and I get to stop worrying that my granddaughter is growing up completely unsocialized." _

"That would work…." GLaDOS started to say, "but I'm still not convinced that this is a good idea. Plus you were the one that said I give into her too much."

"_Ok NOW you listen to my advice? Sometime's I don't know how I live with you."_ Caroline said.

"The feelings mutual." GLaDOS said bitterly. GLaDOS turned back to Amy only to find that she wasn't there.

"_Oh great. You lost the child."_ Caroline said.

"I did not!" GLaDOS said to Caroline. "Amy!" GLaDOS yelled so that the whole facility could hear.

"Calm down!" A voice that was right outside her chamber said. "I'm right here." Amy said as she walked in.

"Amy, when did you and this boy want to meet?" GLaDOS asked.

Amy looked down at her watch. "In about 2 hours. Why?"

"Go to the lost and found bins about 3 stories beneath us. In them should be some cell phones. Get one and bring it back." GLaDOS told her. Amy left and came back about 30 minutes later with a cell phone. "What took you so long?" GLaDOS asked.

"Well, there were a lot of cell phones and I wanted to pick a nice one." Amy said. She held up a regular looking flip phone that was black on the back with a silver cover. It looked like it was made in the early 2000s. "What do you need it for anyway?" Amy asked.

GLaDOS took the phone from her. "You'll see. Now we need to talk about this little 'date' of yours."

The next 2 hours went by slowly and Amy was doing her best to keep with the I-don't-really-care-whether-I-go-or-not theme. She was pretty good at it too. Amy even put on her older jeans just to show how much she really didn't care.

Amy was walking towards the elevator with her newly acquired cell phone in hand. GLaDOS was going over the rules for going out.

"…and if you see anybody suspicious looking run as fast as you can in the other direction…and don't talk, unless someone gets within 3 feet of you then scream… and make sure your phone never leaves you." GLaDOS said. Amy was continuously rolling her eyes. "…and if that boy gets within 3 feet of you push any button on your phone and I will be alerted immediately. I will send Atlas and P-body to come get you with the Aperture Science handheld you-touch-my-daughter-you-die machine."

"We have that?" Amy asked getting on the elevator.

"I can make one." GLaDOS said bitterly.

"Will you calm down? I'll be alright." Amy said as the elevator started ascending.

"I will not calm down!" GLaDOS snapped. "This is the longest you have ever been away from me and I don't like it!"

"I'll miss you." Amy said sweetly.

"Be back by 6:00. One second later and I will assume you are critically injured and the boy will die." GLaDOS said harshly.

"Ok." Amy said. She took a deep breath as she stepped out of the elevator and into the wheat field.

It seemed that today the weather was nicer than yesterday. The sun was brighter but the breeze made it cooler. Amy slowly walked towards the curb. She peaked her head through and, sure enough, he was there.

"You came." Lance said both surprised and happy.

"I was just bored." Amy said crossing her arms and looking the other way.

Lance laughed. "So, should we go then?" He asked. Amy looked over at him and took one small, timid step closer. "It's ok." He said. "I promise." Lance held out his hand to her.

Amy was still scared. This was the farthest she had ever gone from home. Her breathing got heavier and she was ready to run back as fast as she could. She bit her lip and looked up at Lance. He looked so patient with her. He was still smiling and it made her feel like everything was ok. She closed her eyes and took the step off of the curb. Amy opened her eyes again and looked around.

Lance smiled at her. "Ready?" He asked. Amy slightly blushed and nodded. "Good. So I was thinking we could head up this street and then loop back and go the other way. Most of the town is on this road."

"How long will that take?" Amy asked timidly.

"About an hour. If we stop, hour and a half, maybe two." Lance said happily.

"Oh." Amy said, hoping that this wouldn't take but 30 minutes.

"Come on," Lance said, tuning in the direction of the road, "Let's go."

He started walking and Amy was right beside him. She looked back at her wheat field and then back at him. Somehow she knew; she was going to be ok.

**A/N:**

**Me: Yeah, please don't kill me…**

**Kate: You and your stupid cliffhangers.**

**Me: I promise that this will be a two part. There is something that I want them to do on this 'date' but it would be too much to put in this chapter too. So, two-part chapter it is.**

**Kate: And how long until that comes out?**

**Me: Uh…I don't know because I'm actually traveling next week and I do get a lot of writing done while I'm on planes and in hotel rooms but my mom, who is an important part of editing for this story, is not going. So part two will either come out before Sunday or after Wednesday. Sorry guys!**

**Kate: Will you just do the pop quiz already?**

**Me: I actually wanted to talk about that too. Liston guys, these pop quizzes are fun, no doubt, but it is getting a little tiring for me to come up with good questions and answers that aren't too hard but not "What color is Chell's jumpsuit?" So why don't we try something different? This time we will have a poll. I will ask you a question, Portal related, and you will give me your personal answer with a short description of why you chose that (and then a review of the story, if you don't mind). So here's this weeks:**

**You walk into a test chamber. You see where you need to place your portals, but which one do you place first: Blue or orange?**

**And that's it! If the majority hates this new "poll" thing then we'll go back to the quizzes. But for now I'll post the most answered option in the next chapter. Ok, so, bye!**

**Kate: bye!**


	15. First date

**A/N:**

**Me: I'm making a note here…**

**Kate: HUGE SUCCESS!**

**Me: I seems like our poll idea was a triumph!**

**Kate: Let's be honest though…we're throwing science at a wall here to see what sticks.**

**Me: Ok, I think that's enough.**

**Kate: Isn't this a PORTAL story?**

**Me: Well I got another person into Portal!**

**Kate: You want an award?**

**Me: Wouldn't hurt. Anyway, the most answered option was *drum roll* Blue!**

**Kate: only one person answered orange…**

**Me: For me it's blue also. I first played portal on my laptop and the blue portal was the left mouse button. It was more natural to press blue.**

A cloud had come over the sun making it cooler on Amy and Lance's walk. They had been walking for about 5 minutes and neither of them had said a word.

"I thought that you were going to show me around." Amy finally said.

"We're just by some houses right now. There really isn't much to show." Lance said, not looking at her.

Amy looked around her. "I don't remember there being this many houses." She said.

"After the battle, the government sent some people out here to help us rebuild. Some of them liked the town and decided to stay." Lance said. "Funny how we lost so many people yet our towns population has doubled since then."

"You have an interesting idea of funny." Amy said coldly. "So, which house is yours?"

"We already passed it." Lance said. "I am literally right across the street from the wheat field. It's amazing I haven't seen you until now."

"I try to only come out when people are at work and school." Amy said.

"Oh." Lance said quietly. There was another uncomfortable silence before Lance said. "I think we both have questions for each other, so why don't we take turns."

"Ok," Amy said nodding, "I'll start. Who killed my parents?"

"No one knows his name, but everyone knows who he is." Lance started. "But you don't need to worry about avenging anyone's death. You're mom took care of him."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Amy asked.

"Oh no! My turn to ask. Now, I was asking a question before. Does it ever weird you out that your mom's…. you know…not human?" Lance interrupted.

Amy looked at him frustrated and sighed. "Well, no not really." She said, "It never really has. I mean, I was already use to her when I got old enough to care, so no. Now what did you mean my mom took care of him?"

"She kind of killed the leader of the pack, you could say." Lance said.

"Yep, that's mom." Amy said jokingly.

"Huh?" Lance asked.

"It's kind of like mom to kill the queen bee and see what happens." Amy said. "But I can't elaborate, the rest is classified."

"Ok, my turn. Now-" Lance started.

"Nope. You already asked a question." Amy interrupted.

"What? No I didn't!" Lance protested.

"You said 'huh' in the form of a question. It counts." Amy said smiling at him. "You did it to me, now I'm doing it to you."

"Fine, what's your question?" Lance said, smiling back.

"Not that I mind, in fact I would probably leave if there were humans crawling around here, but where is everybody?" Amy asked, looking around.

"Everyone kind of stays inside most of the time. This town is depressing." Lance said. All of the sudden he stopped, and Amy did too. "Amy," Lance said, "how emotionally stable are you?"

"Why on earth would that matter to you?" Amy asked impatiently.

"It just does." He said. "It's a surprise."

"I'm fine." Amy said.

"Ok, it's right up ahead." Lance said continuing to walk. "Last night I was thinking about what I would want to see if I hadn't been on the surface in 12 years."

"And what did you come up with?" Amy asked.

"This." Lance said stopping and turning. Amy turned and was shocked by what she saw. There was a house, small and over-grown, in front of them. The wood was rotting and weeds were abounding in the yard. Even though it was tragic, Amy knew right away what it was. This was her home.

"W-wow." Amy said, at a loss for words. "I can't believe that this is the same place that I spent the first 4 years of my life. What happened?"

"No one went near it after Chell and Mark died." Lance said.

"Why not?" Amy asked, a little insulted.

"I don't really know. Respect maybe?" Lance said. "Though I don't know how respectful it is to let weeds grow and wood to rot."

"How sad." Amy said looking down.

"Do you want to go in?" Lance asked, gesturing towards the door. Amy nodded and Lance opened the small metal gate, letting Amy walk up first. There was a short walk from the gate to the door, and Amy was looking around her. She stepped up to the door and waited for Lance to catch up. He walked up beside her as she put her hand on the door handle. Amy took a deep breath and slowly started to open the door. She pushed it about a quarter of the way open before the door fell back into the house, creating a loud 'BANG' that made Amy jump back.

"Seesh. What happened to the door?" Amy said, catching her breath.

"Hinges must have rusted from snow and rain." Lance said. Amy, very slowly, stepped inside. Right inside of the door was the living room. All of the furniture was there, just covered in dust. The wooden floor creaked as Lance stepped in, and the wind from outside made the tattered curtains wave. Amy walked in even further.

"This is so odd." She said. "All of the memories I have in this room are so lively. It looks so barren now."

"I'm sorry." Lance stared to say. "Maybe this was a bad idea."

"No." Amy said, turning towards him. "I'm sorry. I do like that you brought me here." Amy smiled at him before turning around and walking from the living room to the dining room. It was small and connected to the kitchen. In the back was a glass sliding door to the backyard. Amy walked closer to the door and looked outside. The backyard looked the same as the front. She saw a small, broken wire tied to a pole. It was waving in the wind, and Amy smiled at the sight of it.

"What are you looking at?" Lance asked, walking up behind her.

"On Thursday's, mom and dad had the day off of work. Mom would do laundry and then hang them out to dry on that wire while dad played with me in the yard." Amy said.

"But I thought I saw a dryer back there." Lance said.

"We did laundry all week, but Thursdays were special." Amy said, letting her mind remember everything about those days. "After the laundry was on the line, dad would go in and start dinner. Mom and I would stay outside to play, and then eventually dad would yell that there was 5 minutes until dinner. So then mom and I would go get the clothes and bring them inside. None of us hated the work though; we loved being around each other. "

"Sounds like a pretty good life." Lance said, wishing he could have had something like that.

"Yeah." Amy said turning around and walking towards the front of the room. She went to the small hallway off of the dining room. There was a small bathroom and two bedrooms. She walked into the bathroom and kneeled in front of a cabinet.

She was trying to open the cabinet but failing when Lance knelt beside her and tried to help, but the cabinet was very much jammed. "This cabinet never really worked right. I guess years of abuse and neglect, it kind of just gave up." She said standing up and starting to walk out. She went back into the hallway and looked into her old room. Amy contemplated go in for a moment. Did she really want to go in there after all those years? Amy walked in and almost burst into tears at the sight. The room it's self wasn't in that bad of shape, but the last memory of the room came back like a flood. Amy walked over to the bed and sat down on it. It creaked loudly, threatening to break. Amy didn't care; she just put her hand over her mouth and looked around the room.

"You ok?" Lance asked.

Amy took her hands and rung them around the back of her neck. "The night before it happened, we were doing our nightly routine. Mom gave me a bath, read me a book, and sang that same song she sang every night." Amy laughed a tiny bit in spite of herself, but her laugher quickly turned to tears. "I had no clue that that would be the last time…" Her crying cut off the sentence. She put her hands over her face and bent over. Lance came over and sat beside her. He put his arm around her and held her. Amy looked up. This was the first time in 12 years another human had touched her, and the first time she had been held while mourning. She took a deep breath and sat back up. "I'm sorry." She said. "I just kind of dumped all of this on you."

"It's alright. I figured that you haven't really had anyone to console you." Lance said looking over her sweetly.

"GLaDOS and I don't really talk about it all that much. Whenever I start thinking about mom or dad, I want to be alone." Amy said, starting to gather herself by standing up. She walked up to the door of the room and looked back. "But I do feel better. Thank you." She said. "Now if you don't mind, can we get one more thing before we go?"

Lance stood up and nodded. "By all means." He said as he walked up to her and smiled. Amy shored herself up and bravely walked into the master bedroom and got one of her mom's old purses. She then went into the living room and opened a drawer in the china cabinet. Inside, there was abundance of old DVDs and photo albums. She took them out and started to put them in the bag. "I have a DVD player at my house if you want." Lance said.

"I don't think I'm the only one who wants to watch these." Amy said. At that moment her phone vibrated in her pocket. She took it out and looked at it. "I'm surprised it took her this long." Amy answered the phone and greeted the only person that could be on the other end. "Hello? Who is this?"

"Who do you think it is?" GLaDOS said sarcastically.

"Um…Black Mesa?" Amy said.

"What have I told you about making jokes like that?" GLaDOS said impatiently.

"Sorry. So what took you so long?" Amy asked.

"Just testing." GLaDOS lied. In reality she had wanted to call every 5 minutes, but Caroline had stopped her.

"Oh. So you called because…." Amy said.

"Just wanted to see if you were ok. Are you ok? Because if your not I can fix it." GLaDOS said harshly.

"I'm fine." Amy said.

"How much longer do you think you're going to be?" GLaDOS asked.

"Hour probably." Amy replied.

"An hour? Don't you think that's a bit excessive for a first outing?" GLaDOS said.

"Will you calm down? Plus, I'm bringing a surprise back home." Amy said looking down at her bag.

"What is it? Amy I swear if you bring anything unsterile in here I am going to-" GLaDOS started to say.

"Don't worry. Look I gotta' go, alright? I'll talk to you later." Amy said.

"You bet you will. You may notice I made a few modifications to your phone. When it starts ringing it will not stop until you answer it. Oh, and the decline button doesn't work either." GLaDOS said smugly.

"Ok love you bye." Amy said quickly as she hung up the phone. She turned around to Lance. "Sorry about that."

"No, it's ok. Sometimes I actually wish my mom cared that much about me." Lance said.

"And don't think I'm a jerk because I hung up fast. If I hadn't, we would be here for the next 3 hours." Amy said starting to walk towards the door.

"It's ok. I get it." He said stepping out. "Ready?" He gestured his arms out the door. Amy looked back at her old home. She didn't want to leave, but she knew that staying here wouldn't do any good. So she walked out the door. Lance stepped behind her and picked up the door. "I'll come back and fix it tomorrow." He said.

"Really?" Amy asked looking back.

"Yeah. I mean, it wouldn't hurt the poor house now would it." He said patting his hand on the window. The pressure of his hand caused it to also fall back into the house and shatter when it hit the ground. Lance laughed nervously as he said, "Yeah, um, I'll fix that too." Amy giggled at him. He smiled back at her and they walked away. The ice was well broken.

Over the next hour Lance pointed out everything new and old in the town. Most of the buildings were the same, but remodeled due to damage. Amy saw the town's small grocery store, town hall, some chain retailers and even some family owned places too.

Amy and Lance had gotten better at talking too. Their questions had gone from large, general questions to smaller, more personal ones. Like, "What's your favorite subject?" Or, "What's your room look like?" They were also having much more of a good time. Lance made sure to avoid areas of heavy traffic and Amy noted it. They were laughing and having fun when Lance looked ahead and saw two people walking towards them. Amy saw them too and grabbed onto Lance's arm, clawing him and shaking.

"W-w-w-who's that?" She asked nervously.

Lance looked at them for a moment before realizing who it was. He rolled his eyes; it was Sara and an investment broker.

"Just stay behind me and don't say anything. I promise that they won't say a word to us." He said.

"Why? Who is it?" She asked stubbornly.

"Sara." He told her.

"Your adopted mother?" Amy asked.

"Yeah." Lance said. Sara and the broker got closer to them. Lance was ready to not make eye contact when the oddest thing happened.

Sara smiled and looked at him. "Oh, and this is my son Lance." She said cheerfully. The broker held out his hand for a handshake and Lance complied, even though he was still in shock and could feel Amy trembling behind him.

"Nice to meet you son." The broker said.

"Nice to meet you too." Lance said, looking over at Sara.

"Poor thing was left with no where to go after the battle." Sara started to say, "I saw him and knew I had to take him in. It's been trying, being a single mother and all, but in the end it's worth it knowing that I helped a boy have a better life."

"_Oh brother."_ Lance thought

"Anyway, let's move on. We have much to discuss." Sara said, walking off with the broker. Amy pulled Lance into an ally way, furious.

"What the heck?" She barked. "I thought you said that they wouldn't talk to us!"

"I thought that they wouldn't!" Lance protested. "Sara told me that she wanted to pretend that she didn't have kids!"

"Then why would she talk to you?" Amy asked.

"I don't know. Amy, I'm sorry. I really have been trying to keep you away from other people all day." He said.

Amy relaxed a bit. "I know, and thank you. I guess I can't avoid everyone."

"Anyway it's getting late, I should probably take you back home." Lance said. They walked back out and started towards the wheat field.

"So, you really were left alone?" Amy asked as they walked. "What about grandparents?"

"My mom's mom went insane and was placed in a mental hospital. She escaped and no one has seen her since." Lance said calmly. "And dad's mom was the only normal person in the family… went to high school, got married, had a kid and later died in her sleep after dad was already married."

"My grandmother was uploaded into a computer." Amy said, equally calm.

"What?" Lance said.

"Nothing, never mind. So, do you have any grandfathers?" Amy asked.

"I don't know. Dad only ever talked about his mom, and I was little so I don't even remember that much." Lance said. "You?"

"Huh, I don't really know about my mothers father and I know even less about my fathers parents. Oh well, it's a mystery I'll solve later." Amy said as they walked up to the wheat field. Amy stepped up onto the curb and turned around to Lance.

"So, I guess this is it." He said.

"Yeah, I guess so." Amy replied. "Thanks for showing me around."

"Any time." Lance said. "So you have a phone. Is there any chance I could…"

"The 'number' for my phone is most likely just a tracking code so GLaDOS can see where I am and so she can talk to me. And no, you can't have it." Amy interrupted.

"Dang. Well, I guess I'll see you around then." Lance said.

"Yeah. Thanks again, I had a really good time." Amy said.

"No problem." He said starting to back away. "Later."

"Bye." Amy said turning around.

Lance looked into the door of his house, relieved to see that Sara was on her computer instead of on the phone. He walked in and shut the door behind him.

"What gives?" He asked.

"You are referring to…." Sara said, not looking up.

"You told me that you were going to tell them that you didn't have any kids." He said.

"Oh that? The broker is adopted himself, a good sob story about you should get him to be more generous." Sara said, smirking. "Now go get me some water. I've been outside all day and I am tired."

"Uh, please?" Lance said.

"It was more of a command than a request." Sara said, turning to him. Lance reluctantly walked into the kitchen. Usually he would have a fight with Sara about this, but right now he was in an especially good mood.

When Amy walked off of the elevator, GLaDOS immediately grilled her. "Are you ok? How was it? Did he touch you? Do I need to kill anybody? What did you do? Where did you go? Do I need to kill anybody? What's in that bag? Do I need to kill anybody?"

Amy just smiled and kept walking towards GLaDOS. "I had a wonderful time. He was very nice I and hope to see him again soon. I brought back a souvenir." Amy held up the bag. "This is the surprise I was talking about."

"Oh, so what's in the bag?" GLaDOS asked.

"You'll see. Is the DVD player in the same room as the VHS?" Amy asked, very excited.

"Yes." GLaDOS replied, not very happy at the fact that Amy did not answer her question.

"Cool, I'll be right back." Amy said leaving the room. Usually she would try to hide her excitement and act casual, but right now she was in an especially good mood.

**A/N:**

**Me: Woo, done.**

**Kate: and 4 days over-due.**

**Me: Not my fault that romance is hard to write. Really though, this chapter was hard to write.**

**Kate: That, and you're lazy**

**Me: You're just jealous that you didn't get to go tour Valve like me.**

**Kate: Humph. Used to be that you really wanted to go tour Dreamw-**

**Me: AND we're done with that conversation.**

**Kate: whatever.**

**Me: Ok, poll time! Here's a good one. What do you like better, the "Cake is a lie" meme from portal 1, or the "Lemon" meme from portal 2? Remember; answer, explanation, review! Oh, and the next chapter will be part 3 of this one with the home movies. Look forward to it!**

**Kate: Bye!**


	16. Back to the past

**A/N:**

**Kate: Took you long enough…you monster.**

**Me: Now what did I do?**

**Kate: I just hope that she doesn't develop abandonment issues….**

**Me: Who?**

**Kate: I almost did, but luckily you gave me this story, so I had that.**

**Me: Please explain… you're confusing me.**

**Kate: Amy. Has she become just another character to you?**

**Me: What? No!**

**Kate: Just days after you went on a tour you abandon Valve? How does it feel knowing that you have banished yet another character to complete exile? **

**Me: Oh brother. Listen, everyone, don't worry. This story is not stopping ANYTIME soon. **

**Kate: Now where have I heard that before?**

**Me: I'll explain later, after I have a little *chat* with Kate. In the mean time, the most answered poll option was *drum roll* Lemons by 1 point! My favorite? I like the Cake better but…. that's just me.**

Amy walked back into GLaDOS' chamber. She had just put the DVD in the player so now GLaDOS knew what it was.

"Where did you find this?" GLaDOS asked.

"At my old house." Amy replied, dragging the chair that she had brought with her.

"Your old house? You went to your house?" GLaDOS asked in disbelief.

"Yeah, Lance took me." Amy said, sitting down.

"So the boys name is Lance. English, meaning 'land'. Now what could that mean?" GLaDOS pondered.

"It mean's your thinking too much into it." Amy said. "Hey, do you know what my name means?"

"Amy? I believe that it's Old English and means 'beloved'." GLaDOS said proudly.

"And yours?" Amy asked.

"Genetic Life-form and Disk Operating System. Now can we please just watch the videos." GLaDOS said sarcastically.

"I'm not in charge of that." Amy said. GLaDOS sighed and started the video playing. She dimed the lights and the video started.

It was hard to tell what was happening at first. All you could see were lots of people sitting in front of a stage outside. A man was calling out names and a few people walked across stage, Amy and GLaDOS figured out it was a gradation. He called; "Chell Murphy" and Chell proudly walked up on stage and took the diploma.

"I didn't know mom was married when she graduated." Amy said.

"She wasn't," GLaDOS replied, "but she used Mark's last name for everything because she doesn't know hers."

"Oh." Amy said, thinking it was a little mean of GLaDOS to keep her mothers last name from her. She knew that GLaDOS knew the name, or at least Caroline did. Amy figured that it was no use trying to tell her that and looked back at the screen.

The video had jumped from a graduation to a hike. Mark was holding the camera and pointing it forward and then to the side at Chell. She smiled a little when she looked up at the camera and then covered her face.

"Stop it." She said jokingly.

"Why?" Mark said from behind the camera, "You are the most beautiful girl in the world."

"I've had enough camera's in my life! Now stop, I'm serious!" Chell said a little more sternly.

"Just tell them where we are." Mark said.

"Who? Who on earth would see this as interesting?" Cell said, still turned away.

"I don't know…humans?" Mark said jokingly.

"I don't find that funny, you know." Chell said even more sternly than before.

"Is this about-" Then the clip cut off.

"What was that all about?" Amy asked.

"Chell and Mark used to go out on hikes every so often." GLaDOS replied. "Afterwards they would usually…"

"Usually what?" Amy said.

"They would usually come see me." GLaDOS said, sounding very melancholy.

"Oh." Amy said.

The video had now jumped to the front of a house. It looked new and almost shiny. Chell was standing by a sign in the front yard, swiping the hair from her face.

"You ready?" Mark's voice said from behind the camera.

"Ready!" Chell said, her voice becoming muffled by the wind.

"In 3, 2, 1!" Mark said excitedly. On one,Chell pulled the small sign out of the ground. It then became apparent that the sign was a "for sale" sign. "And it's ours!" Mark exclaimed.

"No more living with your parents!" Chell said.

"Yeah!" Mark replied. He put the camera down on the hood of his car and walked over to her. He picked Chell up and kissed her. "Our house." He said.

"Our house." Chell said, pressing her forehead against Marks.

"So," Mark said, putting Chell down. "Shall we go and move in?" He started walking towards the door.

"Mark?" Chell said.

"What's wrong?" He said, turning around.

"Do you want your camera?"

"Oh!" Mark said. He ran back to the car while Chell laughed at him. Amy was also laughing. She didn't remember much about her dad, but she did know that he acted like that, _a lot._

"Can you pause it really quick?" Amy asked leaning forward.

"Is something wrong?" GLaDOS asked, turning towards her.

"Do you think that, well, he might want to see this?" Amy asked.

"He who?" GLaDOS asked. Amy was silent for a moment. "Oh, you mean the moron." She said disappointed. "He feels guilty about almost killing her, why would he want to see her?"

"Because, I don't know, maybe he misses her." Amy said.

"Misses her? Please Amy!" GLaDOS said, "Why would he ever have any feeling but guilt towards her?"

Amy looked at GLaDOS angrily and leaned back in her seat. "Fine, you win." She said. GLaDOS played the video again. It was now someone carrying the camera from the dinning room to the living room. The person put the camera down on a table so that it was facing the front door. Someone stepped to the side of it and you could now see the back of their thigh. Not much longer, Mark walked through the door. He looked at the person and then at the camera then laughed.

"Honey," He said, "why is the camera out?"

"Because I wanted to get your reaction." Chell said, sounding unbelievably excited.

"Reaction to what?" Mark asked.

"Do you know how I really haven't been able to finish a meal in a while?" Chell said.

"Yeah." Mark replied.

"Well there might be a reason for that…" Chell said. Marks face turned to a mixture of disbelief and realism.

"Are you serious?" Mark asked. "Are you…pregnant?"

"Yes." Chell said so high pitched it almost didn't come out. Mark threw his briefcase on the ground and put is arms around Chell. He pulled back after a moment and looked elated.

"Really?" He said, glowing and his eyes wide.

"Yes, really!" Chell said equally excited.

Mark put his arms around her again as he said, "Chell this is great!"

GLaDOS then remembered how Chell had told her that she was pregnant. It was much less climatic than how she told Mark. She pretty much just came down one day and said, "I'm pregnant." GLaDOS' reaction was mostly "Oh really." She was interested, just not willing to show it. Caroline on the other hand nearly jumped out of her files.

Back at the video: you could see Chell sitting in the passenger seat of a car (now noticeably pregnant). She looked beyond happy.

"So where are we?" Mark's voice said cheerfully.

"At a hospital." Chell said, smiling and not looking up from the papers in her hand.

"And why are we here?" Mark asked.

"Because it's a girl! It's a girl! It's a girl!" Chell said, almost jumping in her seat. You could hear Mark laughing in the background.

That was another thing GLaDOS remembered Chell telling her. She was a little more excited to tell this news. GLaDOS knew that she would have been ok with a boy, just not nearly as happy. Even at that, GLaDOS was happier raising a girl than she would have a boy.

Mark turned the camera to himself and said, "And, daughter, if you're watching this, I am equally excited. I just want to establish that you're not dating until you're 40."

"Mark, she's not even born yet." Chell said.

"Just making sure she knows." Mark said smiling. Amy laughed.

The video was now Mark holding the camera and pointing it at the front door. "Wait wait wait." He said. "Ok now." Chell walked into the home holding a little blanket in her arms.

"You're very dramatic, you know that?" Chell said, closing the door with her foot.

Mark laughed. "Sorry about that." He said walking over to Chell. She pulled the blanket back to reveal a sleeping little baby inside. "Wow." Mark said quietly.

"Welcome home, Amy." Chell said to her, smiling ear to ear.

"Hey, mom," Mark said. Chell looked up at him. "What now?"

Chell shrugged. "I don't know, dad." She said. "Day by day, I guess."

"Worth a shot." He said.

Chell looked back down at Amy and smiled. "Hi sweetheart. I love you."

Amy could feel the tears swelling up behind her eyes. She wiped them away with her hand and leaned up against GLaDOS. GLaDOS jumped a little, but said, "I know, it's ok."

"Do you think she'd be proud of me?" Amy asked.

"I have no doubt about it." GLaDOS said comfortingly.

The video was now looking at a tiny Amy in a car seat. She was awake and looking around.

"Well, your 2 weeks old now." Mark said. "Mom is getting your gear together and then we are going to the doctor." Amy just blankly stared forward. "Try to contain your excitement." Mark said.

"Ready?" Chell said from off camera. Mark moved the camera over to look at her.

In all of the testing that she put her through, GLaDOS had never _ever_ seen Chell so exhausted than she did right there.

Chell walked over to Amy and smiled. "Ready?" She said in an overly peppy, baby voice (which kind of freaked GLaDOS out).

"Let's go." Mark said. Chell grabbed the car seat and the video faded out. The video came back and the date at the bottom had changed to a month later. The house was dark and the camera was moving from the master bedroom to the hallway.

"Ok, I'm filming this because it's 3:00 in the morning and Amy just played alarm clock, again." Mark whispered. "So I thought that I would document how Chell usually gets her back to sleep." He moved the camera around a corner into a bedroom. Chell was rocking Amy in a rocking chair, quietly singing to her. Mark walked a little closer to her.

"That's it!" Amy exclaimed, leaning towards the edge of her seat. "That's the song that she would always sing!"

"_That's_ the song?" GLaDOS said astonished. The song that Chell was singing was the same song GLaDOS had seen her off with years ago. A song more commonly known as "Cara mia".

When Chell finished her song, she looked down at Amy, who had fallen fast asleep.

"Works every time, doesn't it?" Mark whispered. Chell nodded and smiled an exhausted smile. She got up and put Amy in her crib. Chell looked down at her for a moment before walking towards Mark. "Let's go back to bed." He told her. So again, the video faded out.

It came back another 2 mouths later. Chell was on the ground, with Amy in her lap, surrounded by toys. Amy was chewing on something and Chell was looking up at the TV.

"Welcome to a normal Tuesday night at the Murphy house." Mark said. Chell looked up at him. "Only 3 more days until we get to go see Grandma and Grandpa."

"Yeah, uh, Mark." Chell said. "Can we talk?"

"Oh, sure." He said, putting the camera down, seemingly forgetting that it was on. "What's wrong?" He asked.

"When are we going to go see her?" Chell asked.

"Her who?" Mark asked.

"Amy's other grandmother." Chell said, slightly annoyed.

"Oh." Mark said, disappointed. "Don't you think it's a little early to go see her?"

"It's been 4 months!" Chell said, now insulted. "And I know we've had this conversation before. Now when can we go see her?"

"Later, Chell. Now's just not a good time." He said.

"It's never a good time with you! What is your problem with this?" Chell asked, now partly yelling.

"She's just too young. If anything happened to her what would we do?" Mark snapped.

"This is unbelievable. I know you don't like her but my mother is in there!" Chell yelled.

"Feel free to go down there yourself, but Amy stays here." Mark demanded.

While watching these video's GLaDOS kept wondering what she didn't like about Mark. He was a good father, and he did love Chell. So what about him didn't she like?

That clip reminded her.

GLaDOS' anger wasn't half of Caroline's right now, though. Her thoughts went like _"Who is he to say that I can't even see my own granddaughter? Who the [REDACTED] does he think he is? I swear if I was out of this computer when that happened I would march myself right up to him and-"_ I think we've heard enough.

Apparently they didn't film for a while, because the next clip was when Amy was one year old. The camera was moving from a bedroom and into the kitchen.

"Ok," Chell said from behind the camera. "Amy is missing, and I have been looking everywhere for her. The only place I haven't looked is in the laundry room…" She rounded the corner into the laundry room and saw Amy standing in front of the open washer. Chell playfully gasped and Amy let out a smile. "What on earth…" Chell started to say, but was cut off by laughter. Amy was taking the wet clothes out of the washer and dumping them out on the floor, laughing every time she did so. "When your father comes here I am not taking the blame for this." Chell said, constantly being interrupted by her own laughter. "Daaad!" She yelled.

"Yeah?" Mark yelled from another room.

"You need to come here and see this!" Chell said. Mark came in and smiled at what he saw.

"What did you do?" He asked Amy playfully. Amy then backed up and started to run away, but stopped and turned around. She pointed to the clothes and said "Dat?" then proceeded to run away again laughing. Mark walked after her and Chell laughed one more time before turning the camera off.

"So I see that you were always destructive." GLaDOS teased.

"Shut up." Amy said, pushing her away.

"Like mother, like daughter." GLaDOS said.

"Yeah." Amy said.

"Well this video has nothing left on it, were there any more DVDs?" GLaDOS asked.

"Yeah, one more." Amy said. She got up and went back to the room with the DVD player to put the new one in. On her way back to GLaDOS, she went into her bedroom and put on some sweat pants and pulled her hair up. She went back into the chamber and sat back down.

This new video started out when Amy was about 2 and a half years old. Chell was walking down the street with Amy walking right beside her. Amy looked up and waved at the camera.

"Hi daddy!" She said

"Hi sweetheart!" He said. "What are you doing?"

"Taking a walk with mommy and you!" She said excitedly. Amy started to run away.

"Amy come back!" Chell said.

Amy stopped and turned around. "Why?" she asked.

"We miss you." Mark said.

"Will you come back?" Chell asked.

"Ok." Amy said quietly. She started walking back and Chell picked her up.

"Don't run away, got it?" Chell said.

"Yes ma'm." Amy said.

"Good. Can I have a hug?" Chell asked. Amy put her arms around Chell's neck and Chell kissed her on her forehead. GLaDOS could lie about a lot of stuff to Chell, but there was one thing that even she couldn't lie about: Chell loved that child more than life itself (even more than the Companion Cube).

"Hey," Amy asked GLaDOS, "do you still have that cot I used to sleep on when I was little?"

"Yes, in fact…" Three panels came up from the ground with the collapsed cot on them.

"You kept it?" Amy asked, walking over to it and starting to set it up.

"You know, just in case." GLaDOS said.

"Right…" Amy said. She got the bed set up and laid down. The next few videos were typical home movies. After about 30 minutes, GLaDOS noticed that Amy's breathing had gotten heavier. She looked over at her and found that Amy had fallen asleep. GLaDOS stopped the video and turned the lights off. She couldn't believe that Amy had fallen asleep in here, which hadn't happened in over 12 years. Ironically enough, she fell asleep to the video of her mother singing to her when she was 3.

**A/N:**

**Me: do you know why this is the best authors note ever? **

**Kate: Why?**

**Me: Because this chapter is finally done!**

**Kate: woo.**

**Me: Ok we have a lot of things to catch up on. First, I started a "Ask Amy Murphy" blog on tumbler. The URL is Askamymurphy then the whole dot Tumbler dot com thing. Or you can just go to my profile and the link is on there. Second, the poll of this week. Who do you like playing as more? Atlas or P-body? Remember answer and review! Third, AllMightyWheatley I would LOVE to write a story for you! Fanfiction deleted your e-mail but (and this goes for everyone) commission info and where else you can reach me (Youtube, facebook, etc.) are on my profile. So, I guess this goes without saying but I do free commissions! **

**Kate: Remember to review!**


	17. Love as a Construct

**A/N:**

**Kate: You can't be serious.**

**Me: Well I am.**

**Kate: I can't believe people actually asked…**

**Me: But it's great!**

**Kate: Maybe I should start my OWN ask blog.**

**Me: nooooo.**

**Kate: And why not?**

**Me: Because you're not allowed anywhere near a computer. You're NOT trustworthy. Plus I'm…. planning something for our reviewers. **

**Kate: … Well that was vague. **

**Me: It's not a fake, tragic surprise like last time. A REAL surprise, with tragic consequences. And real confetti!**

**Kate: Where was the confetti last time?**

**Me: Anyway thank you for all the questions we got! I tried to answer them well and in character. As for the poll, the winner was P-Body by a long shot! Me, I like her the best too. **

**Kate: On to the chapter!**

Amy placed her portal on a wall and redirected a laser. She had been testing for about 30 minutes and had been talking to Wheatley for about 5. He wasn't helping her, so it wasn't breaking any rules. Although, GLaDOS still didn't like it.

"So," Amy said, hesitating to complete the last step. "When you got shot into space, it was just you right?"

"Unfortunately, no." Wheatley replied.

"Oh yeah. There was that other guy, right?" Amy said putting the cube on the button but instead of leaving the room, she leaned on the cube. "Whatever happened to him?"

"Well actually…" Wheatley started to say.

"Last time I checked, the door was open…" GLaDOS said impatiently.

"Am I done yet?" Amy whined.

"You still have 2 more before your done." GLaDOS said. Amy groaned. "Well it's either this or you can go run the whole length of the wheat field. Your choice."

"Stupid mandatory P.E. credit." Amy said as she trudged through the door and onto the elevator.

She got done with the other chambers pretty fast that day and luckily it was her last class. She found Wheatley in an upper room looking over the turret production line and picked up where she had left off.

"So, what happened to Space?" Amy asked curiously.

"The bloody core? He came back to earth when I did." Wheatley said.

"So he landed with you right?" Amy said.

"No, not exactly." Wheatley replied, "I blacked out a few moments before landing. When I came back online, he was gone."

"Oh. Well how far away from the ground were you when you blacked out. Maybe he's not too far!" Amy said.

"I don't remember! That was a long time ago Amy." Wheatley said. "Why are you so interested in this?" Amy shrugged. "I'm sorry, I just don't remember."

"It's ok." Amy said disappointed. She walked out of the room; curious as to why she was so, well, curious. Amy walked into her room and shut the door behind her, trying to block out this idea in her head.

The next day she was heading towards the elevator to go pick up a package on the surface. Amy grabbed her cell phone on the way out, you know, just in case. She got to the top and stepped off of the elevator. It was overcast today so she would have to make this quick. It thundered as she made her way to the curb. As she bent down to get the box, she heard someone yell "Hey!" Amy looked up to see Lance running from across the street.

"What are you doing out?" He asked. Amy held up the box. "Oh. I haven't seen you in a few days."

"I've been busy." Amy replied.

"I see." Lance said, "I'm actually glad to see you because there's something I need you need to see."

"What is it?" Amy asked.

"It's at my house. I'll be right back." Lance said as he ran back to his house.

"But-" Amy stared to say, but was cut off. He was already gone. After about 5 minutes, Amy started to leave and accept the fact that he was just playing with her feelings and that he never really liked her and that he just wanted to humiliate her. She started to turn around but as she did he walked up behind her.

"Sorry it took me so long, this thing is heavy." He said, gesturing to the bag over his shoulder.

"So what is it?" Amy asked, thinking she might have overreacted just a tad bit.

"That's what I want you to tell me." Lance said, taking the bag off of his shoulder. He pulled out what appeared to be something metal, small, and partially crushed.

"So what is it?" He asked.

"I can't tell, it's too damaged. I can tell you that's it's much more than a hunk of metal, though." Amy said. "What made you think I would know about it?"

"That's the Aperture logo, right?" He said, turning the thing over.

"Yeah, it is." Amy said. At that moment, thunder sounded and lightning flashed. "Maybe I can take it back to Aunt GLaDOS and she can fix it. But if it gets wet it may be unfixable."

"You don't have time to go back. Come on!" Lance said as he grabbed Amy's wrist and ran under a nearby awning, just as the rain started coming down hard. Amy took the thing from Lance and looked over it. "So, computer girl, can it be fixed?"

Amy looked at him crossly before replying, "I already told you, I don't know. Where did you find this?"

"Behind the school. I saw the logo and thought you might know something about it." He told her. Amy lifted up one of the metal casings and ripped it off. She did that to a few more before Lance asked, "Should you be doing that?"

"This thing is completely destroyed. If she can fix it, that saying she even will, it will need a new body anyway." Amy said and she dug around for something. "Ah! Here it is!" She pulled out her cell phone and called GLaDOS.

"WHERE are you? I've been worried sick!" GLaDOS said.

"Out. I ran into Lance." She said. "Hey, can you search for something with the serial numbers 53 70 61 63 65?"

"That would be Space Core." GLaDOS said.

"I knew it." Amy said quietly.

"Why do you want to know?" GLaDOS asked.

"I found him. Well, Lance did actually." Amy said.

"Great, another one. Well, bring it back here and I'll give it proper funeral…to the incinerator." GLaDOS said bitterly.

"Yeah about that…the weather is saying differently." Amy said. "That might be a minute."

GLaDOS sighed. "Fine. Just be careful and come back as soon as you can, ok?"

"Got it. Bye." Amy said as she hung up the phone. "How long do you think this will last?"

"Anyone's best guess." Lance said. They stood in quiet for a moment. Amy had her back to the building and Lance walked up beside her.

She looked back at the core and said, "It's ok. I won't let her hurt you." As she ran her hand down the side of it.

"What's that thing like, when it's on?" Lance asked.

"I've never actually met him. From what I've heard he's not exactly nice company." Amy said. Lance chuckled. "What?"

"Met? Him? It's just interesting how you interact with it." Lance said. "Most people don't give technology a second thought, let alone talk to it. Everyone here would probably peg you as insane."

"Including you." Amy said coldly.

"I'm adjusting." Lance said, reaching for Amy's hand. She started blushing profusely and looked the other way.

"O-oh look!" She said nervously, pulling her hand away so she could point. "It stopped raining!"

"Looks so." Lance said.

"I guess I better go." Amy said. "Thanks for giving him to me. S-see you later." And with that, she ran off. Lance shook his head and smiled. What a strange girl.

Amy stepped into GLaDOS' chamber and held the core up.

"I think you know where the incinerator is." GLaDOS said sarcastically.

"Fix it." Amy said.

"Excuse me?" GLaDOS said.

"You heard me. Can you please fix it?" Amy asked.

"Why? It would just be a waste of time." GLaDOS said.

"He's still an AI. He deserves to be treated well." Amy said stubbornly.

"No. There is absolutely no reason for me to do that." GLaDOS replied.

"So, you can't?" Amy said.

"I very well can. It would take a while but I can." GLaDOS said proudly.

"I don't believe you. Show me." Amy said, holding it up again.

"I'm not stupid, Amy. I can see what you're doing." GLaDOS said. Amy looked down sadly. "And I'm very proud of you for using reverse psychology. Maybe someday you'll be as good as me." Amy looked back up extremely confused. "Give me the thing. I'll see what I can do." GLaDOS said as she took the core from Amy and whisked it off to another room.

"Thank you!" Amy said before running out of the room. She loved it when she won an argument with GLaDOS.

Later that day, Amy was walking around and was talking to herself not paying attention to where she was going

"Great, just great, Amy!" She said, "He made a move on you and what do you do? You run away! He probably thinks you hate him now!"

"_Who are you?"_

"What was that?" Amy said whipping around. She didn't see anything so she kept walking.

"_What is that?"_

This time she looked around even more franticly. It took her a moment to locate the noise until…

"_Look at that thing!"_

Amy walked over to the core reject bin. Curiosity was sitting on top, and looking right at her.

"Hi! Who are you?" The core asked.

"Amy." she said

"Are you a human?" It asked.

"Yes. I live here." Amy said, acting like this was just a normal conversation. "I thought you got sent to the incinerator a long time ago." She said. Suddenly she remembered GLaDOS saying something about _"4,000 degrees Kelvin." _So she figured that's why this one was still here.

"Lady! Down here!" A male voice chimed. Amy ducked down to the bottom of the bin.

"Yes?" Amy said to the green core.

"I didn't know there were humans in here! Let alone such attractive ones, if you don't mind me saying." He said suavely.

"Yes, I do." She said standing up.

"Wait!" He yelled. Amy ducked back down. "Just get me away from this joke! I've been stuck here for years!" Amy looked behind him to see another core.

"Fact: The Adventure Sphere has said that my facts are 'fascinating' and has asked me to 'please go on'." He said emotionlessly.

"It's called sarcasm!" Rick yelled. Amy took mercy on the core and climbed into the bin. She dug around until she found him and pulled him up.

"There. Happy now?" She said, standing up.

"Unbelievably." Rick said. "I owe you one. Maybe I could take you on an adventure sometime. Some candlelight dinner?"

"Flirt with your own type." Amy said, not amused.

"Then maybe you could put in a word for me with that lovely piece of hardware that runs the place." He said.

"GLaDOS? Please, she is way too old for you!" Amy said. She dropped him, not paying attention where he landed, and climbed out of the bin.

"So, you're just going to leave?" Rick asked.

"Who are you?" The core right next to him said.

"Uh, Rick." He said.

"What is that?" She said excitedly.

"I believe that's a wall-"

"What does that do?"

"It separates two-"

"What's in there?"

"How the-"

"Look at that thing!"

"Hey!" Rick yelled after Amy, "Hey wait! This isn't any better! Hey! Come back!" But Amy only laughed and kept walking.

"Well, that killed 10 minutes." Amy said as she was walking up stairs. "What to do-"

"Amy, I think it's done." GLaDOS said.

"Coming!" Amy said as she ran to the chamber. On her way she ran into Wheatley. Literally, she was running one way and he was above her. Amy didn't see him and, as a result, hit her head pretty hard. "Watch it moron!" She said, rubbing her forehead.

"I can't win, can I?" Wheatley said.

"GLaDOS fixed the space core!" Amy said, gathering herself. "Now are you coming?"

"She did what? Why would anyone do that?" Wheatley yelled.

"Because we can. Now come on!" Amy said running off. Wheatley sighed and followed.

Amy walked into the chamber. The core was plugged into a charger and offline. He had all new casing, but he looked just like he did years ago.

"So, he's fixed now?" Amy asked.

"As much as a corrupt core can be, yes," GLaDOS replied. Amy walked over to him and put her hand on him.

"He's so cute when he's asleep." She said.

"Yeah you just wait. See how 'cute' he is when he has driven you to the point of wanting to jump off of a bridge." Wheatley said.

"When can you turn him on?' Amy asked.

"Right about…. now." GLaDOS said. With that, you could hear the core firing up. His optic opened up and slowly started to light up. After a moment, he said (very quietly) "Space?"

Amy smiled. "You did it, Aunt GLaDOS." Amy said.

"Where's space?" The core asked.

"You're not in space anymore. You're back home." Amy said softly. "I'm Amy."

"Amy, are you from space?" It asked.

Amy laughed at him. "See Wheatley, he's cute." She said. Space Core looked past her and lit up all of the sudden.

"Space Buddy?" He said excitedly. Amy turned around to see that he was looking at Wheatley. She couldn't stop laughing, and neither could GLaDOS.

"Space buddies?" Amy teased.

"Oh that's precious!" GLaDOS said, teasing all the same.

"Well it's lonely in space!" Wheatley said, feeling as embarrassed as a robot could.

"No, no, it's cute!" Amy said, turning back to the space core. "And he's not annoying. He's just like a little kid."

"You said I was home, right? Not space." Space Core asked. Amy nodded. "Does that mean she's here too?"

"She?" Amy asked. "You mean her?" She pointed to GLaDOS, who jerked back.

"No Space Amy! The one who asks about space!" He said frustrated. Amy heard Wheatley and GLaDOS snickering behind her.

Amy rolled her eyes. "You mean Curiosity?" She asked him. He nodded excitedly. "I'll be right back." Amy said, getting up and walking out.

After she left, Wheatley snickered, "Space Amy" And started laughing again.

"You're one to talk, Space Buddy." GLaDOS said to him.

"Hey, hey, hey," The space core said.

"Yes, what do you want?" GLaDOS asked sarcastically.

"You're really big! As big as the moon! Are you the moon?" He asked.

"No, I am not a-" GLaDOS started to say.

"Hi moon! I haven't seen you in a while! How's space?" He asked eagerly.

"I am NOT the moon!" GLaDOS tried to protest, but Wheatley was already laughing. About that time, Amy walked back into the room and disconnected the space core. She carried him back to the core reject bin.

"Guess who's here…" She said and she held the space core up so he could see Curiosity. For the first time in both of the core's lives, they were speechless. Amy went and put Space next to Curiosity (she had come down earlier and put Rick in the other bin).

"Where were you?" Curiosity finally asked.

"Space!" He said.

"Space? _The_ space?" She said happily.

"Yes, space!"

"Tell me all about it!" She said loudly.

"There was so much! Space is huge! Stars everywhere! Oh! And there was a really big one!" He rambled.

"My job is done here." Amy said as she walked away. When she was about to leave the room, she heard something yell "Hey!" She turned around.

"Thank you, Space Amy!" The space core yelled.

"Don't mention it." Amy said cheerfully. Space went back to rambling and Amy giggled and left the room.

The next day, Lance was walking home from school when he heard some one call his name. He looked up to see Amy standing outside the field. He ran over to her.

"What are you doing out? Surely you don't have something else one day later." Lance said.

"I wanted to see you!" She said, sounding very eager.

"Ok, what is it?" He asked, happy to see her in a good mood today. Amy reached back into the wheat field and pulled the space core out.

"We fixed him! Well, Aunt GLaDOS did most of the work." Amy said.

"Space?" The core said. Lance jumped a bit.

"It's ok." Amy said.

"It's just, I've never seen anything like this before." Lance said nervously.

"I get it. It's still new to you." Amy told him. After a moment of Lance staring at the core (almost fearfully) Amy grabbed Lance's hand and slowly put it on the space core. She felt him shake. "It's ok, he's harmless." She reassured him.

A chill went through Lance when his fingers made contact with the AI. After a minute, he put his hand on it and even laughed a bit. "Amazing." He said.

"I know. He's never this quiet. He must like you." Amy said.

"That's possible?" Lance asked, looking up at Amy.

"It's odd, I know. You'll get used to it." Amy said.

"It's like a puppy. Only without hair and it can talk." Lance said, looking back at the space core.

"Talk? About space? I talk about space a lot! I love space!" Space Core said. Lance stared at it for a minute.

"He's talking to you, Lance." Amy said.

"Oh, uh, well, yeah, space is cool." Lance said, not believing he was talking to a computer.

"Space is cool! Space is fun and cool!" The core said happily. "Hey, wanna' be space buddies?"

"Uh, sure." Lance said. He looked up at Amy. "Is that a good thing?" he asked her.

"Trust me, coming from him, it's the highest form of a complement." Amy said.

"So, your mom's like this?" Lance asked.

"The AI part, yes. The space, not so much." Amy said. They laughed for a moment before there was another silence. "You know," Amy said, "If you wanted to come by and see her…."

"_Amy, what do you think you're doing?"_ Amy thought.

"You mean like, go to your 'house'?" Lance asked.

"Yeah. Maybe we could hang out." She said.

"_What are you doing? Shut up!" _

"How about tomorrow at 2:00?" Amy said.

"_Do you know how bad Aunt GLaDOS is going to kill you for inviting a human without her permission? "_

"I don't know…" Lance said.

"I promise no one there will hurt you as long as I'm there." Amy said. "Most likely." She added, under her breath. Lance still looked uneasy. "Look, I came to your surface world, you can come see my cave."

Lance smiled. "You've got a good point. Alright, I'll be there at 2:00."

"Cool." Amy said.

"_You're dead. You are beyond dead. You already died."_

"See you tomorrow then." Lance said.

"See you then." Amy said, starting to back up into the field. As she was walking back, her thoughts hadn't changed.

"Is something wrong, Space Amy?" Space Core asked.

"No, but it's about to be." Amy said. How was she going to explain this one?

**A/N:**

**Me: I support Spacosity! **

**Kate: You like putting your characters in deep trouble, don't you? How do you think we feel?**

**Me: You always get out of it…..somehow…**

**Kate: This is pretty bad, Elizabeth.**

**Me: Meh, she'll figure it out. Ok hi readers! **

**Kate: And I'm ignored.**

**Me: bit of a lengthy Authors note today but it's worth it. Ok *cough cough* CALLING ALL ARTISTS! On my Ask Amy blog, we have been getting lots of questions (thank you for that, by the way). The only problem is that we have no good profile picture. The black and white companion cube is starting to freak me out! So, I want to have a contest. I want to see who can draw the best picture of Amy for her profile picture AND for my profile picture on Fanfiction, too. **

**Kate: She's doing this because she has no drawing abilities whatsoever.**

**Me: Exactly! So, here are some ways to submit your drawing (the links to all of these are on my profile):**

**Post the picture on my facebook wall. Caption it "Amy contest".**

**Tweet the picture and mention me in the tweet.**

**Put your picture on a video and send me the link on YouTube.**

**Upload it to DeviantArt and comment on my page with the link to it. **

**And that's about it! Some light references you can use are on all of those places (except twitter) but don't expect much because they're just some dress up games that let you customize what the person's face actually looks like-but hey it's something! The picture can be color or not (color is better but if not it's fine). It can include other characters (humanized AIs are ok) but the main focus should be Amy. I will choose a winner but all submissions will be put on the Tumblr blog and on my Facebook page. If you have any questions, feel free to ask! The deadline is December 13th. Only 2 rules: No mature content (no exceptions) and HAVE FUN AND BE CREATIVE! You may also submit more than one if you like!**

**Kate: I can't wait to see what they come up with!**

**Me: Me too! Anyway, here's the poll: For the VGA's this year, Steven Merchant (Wheatley) and J.K. Simmons (Cave) are up for Best Male Voice Actor. Who do you think did better? Remember: Answer and review! **

**Kate: I hope we get a lot of drawings! See you next time!**


	18. Hey, look, a new chapter!

**A/N:**

**Me: Hey, everyone, guess what? I'M NOT DEAD!**

**Kate: *hums "he's a jolly good fellow"***

**Me: Why are you being creepy?**

**Kate: Me? I don't know what you're talking about.**

**Me: You're scaring me.**

**Kate: Good.**

**Me: OK so the most answered question to the poll is *drum roll* Steven!**

**Kate: 6 to 2.**

**Me: I like him better too. Nothing against Simmons, I just don't like Cave all that much.**

Amy went and put Space back next to Curiosity, who was elated to see him. She watched them ramble for a while. Her stomach fell 1,000 feet. How could she have invited Lance down here? How could she be so stupid?

"You're being quiet." A voice behind her said. Amy whipped around and smiled at Wheatley.

"Oh, hey." She said. "I'm just thinking."

"I'm surprised you find this a good place to think." Wheatley said.

"I'm not really listening to them." Amy replied. She looked back down.

"Is everything alright?" He asked.

"Yeah," She said, "I just made a huge mistake that is going to get me killed."

"I'm sure it can't be that bad." Wheatley told her.

"Oh it is." Amy said.

"Oh, come on. You're overreacting." Wheatley said, coming closer to her.

Amy looked straight at him and said, "I invited another human down here."

Wheatley was silent in shock for a moment, and then "Oh, well, first; Have you gone mad? I've been told that I'm not the brightest core in the bin, but even I know better than that!"

"I know!" Amy yelled.

"What were you thinking? This place is her palace! You want to bring another unsanitary human down here?" Wheatley yelled back.

"That's what I said!" Amy said. "What do I do?"

"You're on your own on this one!" He yelled.

"Amy, will you come in here for a moment?" GLaDOS said over the intercom.

"Help!" Amy whispered to Wheatley in a panic.

"It's ok, just calm down. I'm sure you'll be fine…. Maybe." He said. Amy worriedly jogged into GLaDOS' chamber; Wheatley on her heals. She walked into the chamber as Wheatley hid behind a panel.

"Listen, Aunt GLaDOS, I…" Amy started to say.

"Not so fast, I want to speak first." GLaDOS said.

"I really think you should hear what-" Amy stared to say again.

"I've been thinking about this for a while now." GLaDOS interrupted. "And after a long winded conversation with your grandmother, I have decided that you have been spending too much time with this 'Lance' character."

"What?" Amy exclaimed.

"You didn't let me finish. What I mean is that your spending too much time with someone I've never met, let alone a boy." GLaDOS said.

"Where are you going with this?" Amy asked.

"Amy, tomorrow I want you to bring this boy down here. I want to meet him." GLaDOS said. Amy's jaw practically hit the floor, and if Wheatley had one it would have too.

"I…I" Amy tried to say.

"Don't argue with me; I've made up my mind." GLaDOS said. "If he won't come then you are not allowed to see him anymore."

"Uh…." Amy said, still dumbfounded.

"WHAT?" Wheatley accidently yelled. GLaDOS moved the panel he was behind, exposing him.

"Moron…." She seethed, "What are you doing there?"

"But Amy already asked-" Wheatley started to say but Amy ran over to him and grabbed him, shushing him.

"Aw, isn't he cute when he should shut up." Amy laughed. "Well, I think I can work something out with Lance. How about 2:00?"

"He had better come." GLaDOS said.

"Oh, don't worry. I think he will." Amy said. "Well, nice talking to you. See you later." She quickly backed out of the room. Wheatley met her in the hall.

"How did you do that?" He asked.

"Hey, what can I say? I've got her wrapped around my finger." Amy gloated.

"What was that?" GLaDOS asked.

"Oh nothing. Just saying how much I appreciate the fact that you care about me so much that you want to be more in tune with my life." Amy said.

"Uh huh." GLaDOS said sarcastically, "That's what I thought." Amy looked over at Wheatley and shrugged.

The next day Amy walked out to the curb to pick Lance up. She was carrying Wheatley and letting her mind wander.

"Thanks for coming with me." She said.

"Not a problem." he replied, "I'd like to meet the boy before she gets her hands on him."

"Why so?" Amy asked.

"Because if she sees him first I'll never get to meet him." Wheatley said.

"Still not following." Amy said.

"She is going to threaten him and then he will never come back." Wheatley said assuredly.

"Now you don't know that!" Amy protested, even though she knew it was probably true.

They made it to the curb, where they saw Lance running towards them.

"Hey," He said, "So, I'm here."

"Yeah, you are." Amy replied, biting her lip and rocking back and forth. They stood there for about a minute before Lance finally noticed that she was holding something.

"And who is this?" He asked, kneeling down to Wheatley's eye-level.

"You're a lot calmer than yesterday." Amy said, now realizing that her arms couldn't hold Wheatley much longer.

"I figure that if they're this small that they can't really hurt me." He answered.

"True." Amy said. "Anyway, this is Wheatley. Wheatley, say hello."

"Charmed." Wheatley said. His politeness shocked Amy, and Lance laughed.

"So what's his job? Manners core?" Lance asked.

"Uh, not exactly." Amy said. "Wheatley, what's your problem?"

"Problem? I don't have a problem. I believe that I am acting as I always do." Wheatley replied boldly. "So, Lance, have you ever read Machiavelli?"

"Machiavelli? Uh, I'm 16. I'll call you when I'm 47."Lance said standing up and looking at Amy. "He seems nice."

"Yeah, Lance, he's the Intelligence Dampening Sphere." Amy said.

"But don't think I'm a moron, because I'm not!" Wheatley exclaimed.

"I…never said you were." Lance said, a little taken back by Wheatley's real purpose.

"Well don't." Wheatley said stubbornly.

"I think we should get going." Amy said, trying to fill an overly awkward moment.

"You lead, I'll follow." Lance said.

Amy started to turn around but stopped and asked, "Hey, do you think you could carry him, maybe?"

"Oh, sure." Lance said. He carefully took Wheatley from her and they kept walking. There was a silence for a moment before Lance spoke up. "So," He said, "How big is your home exactly?"

"A estimate? About…uh…..big? I don't know I never actually bothered to look it up." Amy replied.

"Oh." Lance said, as her answer was anti-climatic.

At that point they had reached the shed and Amy stopped cold.

"Is something wrong?" Lance asked.

"Are you SURE…" Amy said.

"Positive." Lance said sweetly. Amy's face turned bright red as her heart rate quickly sped up .

"Oh, um, ok." Amy finally mustered. She opened the door and they both stepped in. Amy gulped hard, but it wasn't because she was nervous around Lance; it was because she was nervous FOR Lance. He really didn't know what he was getting himself into.

The elevator went down slower than normal. GLaDOS made it that way to intimidate Lance, and Amy took notice (as if she wasn't already scared enough).

"You must live pretty far down ," Lance said, seeming unfazed by the slow decent, "This is taking a long time."

"Yeah, it seems longer than normal." Amy hissed, looking at the camera in the elevator.

"Are you alright?" Lance asked, seeing that Amy's eyes were locked on the camera.

"Me? Just Fine." She replied. "You on the other hand…" Amy then mumbled.

The elevator stopped and they got off. The second Lance stepped off; the elevator shot up the shaft faster than it had ever done before. Lance jumped back.

"_Really? Really?"_ Amy thought, _"THIS is how we're going to act?"_

"Fast elevator." Lance said.

"It's probably corrupted." Amy said between her teeth.

"Hello. I'm still here." Wheatley chimed.

"Oh, right." Amy said, looking down at him. Amy grabbed Wheatley by his upper handle and swung him around to the port right behind her.

"Thanks." Wheatley said. He looked over at Lance. "Good luck."

"Um, good luck for what?" Lance asked.

"Trust me you'll need it." Wheatley said as he sped off. Lance looked over at Amy.

"I'm not going to wait much longer." GLaDOS' voice boomed over the intercom. It became instantly apparent that she had turned the volume up on the intercom significantly, which pushed Amy right to the edge of frustration.

"Come on, let's get this over with." Amy said as she led Lance down the hall to GLaDOS' chamber. On the way, Lance's eyes couldn't focus on one thing. It was all so…. big, yet somewhat cold and heartless. He wondered how anyone could live here full time.

They made it to the chamber and stood in silence for a moment. Amy sighed.

"Lance, this is GLaDOS. Aunt GLaDOS, this is Lance." Amy said.

"H-hi." Lance said, underestimating how big or intimidating this thing was. GLaDOS hovered over Lance, making him lean back and almost fall over. She looked him over, up and down, and then went back.

"Well then," She said. "This is the boy I've heard so much about." The room was silent. "Amy, will you go into the kitchen and get some snacks. I think I would like a word with him alone for a moment."

"Fine." Amy said harshly. She smiled at a terrified Lance before walking out of the room. After she turned the corner into the other hallway, she heard the door to the chamber slam shut.

Amy walked into the kitchen and snapped her fingers in front of the camera a few times. The camera whirred, indicating that GLaDOS was listening.

"You know, I didn't know that you were capable of acting this immature." Amy said. "Give him a break. He is a human and, as much as you hate it, I am too. Please act as normal as possible, for you." Amy started to walk away, before turning around and making the statement, "If you're not going to listen to me, please listen to Caroline. Something tells me she thinks the exact same things." With that, Amy turned back to her task.

GLaDOS heard all of it, and Amy was right; Caroline was saying the same things. GLaDOS hadn't said much to Lance after Amy left. Which was strange, considering she had gotten an interrogation ready for him. Instead, she kept it simple. "What are your intentions with Amy? How are your grades? What branch of scientific study do you plan to go into?" Just the basics. Lance relaxed a little, feeling that he was making good first impression.

Amy walked back into the room surprised. She expected to see Lance hanging from the ceiling (if he was even alive), but instead he was casually leaning up against her desk having a conversation.

"What happened?" Amy asked, putting the tray she was holding down on the desk.

"Not much." Lance said turning to her.

"I wasn't talking to you." Amy said, walking next to him. "but, how did it go?"

Everyone remained silent for a moment before GLaDOS said, "Alright, he's fine."

"Really?" Amy said excitedly.

"Yes." GLaDOS said reluctantly. "As long as he doesn't try anything." She added harshly. Lance gulped but Amy didn't notice.

"ohmygosh Thank you, thank you, thank you!" Amy said, grabbing Lance's arm. "Come on I want to show you around!" They ran out of the room, Amy saying "Thank you!" one last time before they were out of sight. To GLaDOS, It only seemed like last week that she was running out of the room with a teddy bear in her arms, now it was a young man.

"_You know what they say, 'If you love something, set it free. If it loves you, it will come back.' She'll come back."_ Caroline said.

"Easy for you to say. YOU'RE not the one having to let her go." GLaDOS snapped.

"_You're still her Aunt GLaDOS. He will never replace that." _ Caroline said.

"But he is her boyfriend and I have done extinctive research on the subject, in preparation for this day, and I know that boyfriends can, briefly, come before anything." GLaDOS said.

"_What exactly are your sources?"_ Caroline asked.

"Does it matter?" GLaDOS said harshly.

"_Yes."_ Caroline said.

"Alright… Amy left her browser open and I peeked at the Internet. There are many parental blogs to benefit from." GLaDOS admitted.

"_Uh huh."_ Caroline said. _"But they WILL come back. I know you read something about that."_

"That or they'll run away, get married, and 7 kids!" GLaDOS said.

"_Ok if you're so worried why did you 'ok' him?" _ Caroline said, tremendously frustrated.

"Because he seemed so nice at the moment. Before I remembered that he was a boy that was interested in Amy."

"_And no one is good enough for Amy, are they?"_ Caroline said.

"Their just so…dangerous. And you should know!" GLaDOS shouted. Caroline was silent.

"_My husband was one rotten apple out of a whole barrel."_ Caroline said.

"He left you alone, pregnant and in mortal danger!" GLaDOS said.

"_For every bad there are at least 3 good... and that was a long time ago." _ Caroline protested.

"I just don't want Amy getting hurt." GLaDOS said.

"_No mother does."_ Caroline said. _"You know as well as I do that Amy is too smart to do something regrettable." _

"You're right." GLaDOS said. "And he seemed exceptional, but I will be keeping an eye on them."

"_And there's nothing wrong with that." _Caroline said, _"Just try to let her have a life outside the house too, alright?"_

Before GLaDOS could say anything (or in this case, protest) she was distracted by laughter coming from another room. It was Amy and Lance by the rejected core bin.

"So, how many of these are there, exactly?" Lance asked.

"Hundreds probably." Amy said.

"Oh." Lance replied. "And they were all used to calm her down at some point?"

"Useless efforts." Amy said. "Well, ready to go?"

"Yeah." Lance said. They walked away and back into GLaDOS' chamber.

"I'm going to go take him back home, ok?"

"Alright, take your phone." GLaDOS replied.

"I will." Amy said.

"Nice meeting you." Lance said turning around to follow Amy. GLaDOS didn't say anything or even move. "Right then, I'll be leaving." Lance said awkwardly. Amy saw the whole thing from down the hall. As soon as Lance left the room, she turned around stiffly.

"Is she alright?" Lance asked when they were in the elevator.

"I don't know. That isn't normal." Amy said as the elevator came to a stop at the top. Trying to change the subject, she said, "I'm sure she's fine. Maybe just some emotional overload. Anyway thanks for coming down."

"Oh, thanks for showing me. She was…nice. It was still strange talking to a computer, but I think I can adjust." Lance said.

"That's good." Amy said. They made it to the curb and Lance turned around.

"This is my stop." He said. Amy laughed. "If you're not busy, maybe we can go on another walk tomorrow."

"I'd like that." Amy smiled.

"Well, see you tomorrow then." Lance said as he headed home. "Bye."

"Bye!" Amy yelled after him.

Lance went home and was unexpectedly greeted by a very upset Sara.

"Where have you been?" She yelled. "I needed someone to man the phone because I had a very important business meeting to go to!"

"You never said anything about that!" He protested.

"Well you should have known!" She yelled back. "Now your excuse for being gone must be good!"

"I was at Amy's house!" He said.

"Amy?" She said. "Who's that?"

"She's a friend. Doesn't go to my school, not like you care." He said.

"Amy…..Amy who?" She asked.

"Amy Murphy. Why?" He said.

Sara looked ashen as she walked away. Lance wasn't sure, but he thought he heard her say, "She's….alive."

**A/N:**

**Kate: So many authors' notes. Need to see it all. *excited gasps***

**Me: I wish I could have done this earlier. I honestly do. I honestly do wish I could have done it earlier. And not just because I'm stuck here with Kate.**

**Kate: I'm in an authors note.**

**Me: I know you are, mate. Yup. We're both in this note.**

**Kate: Noteeeeeee!**

**Me: Anyway, if I was ever to see my readers again, you know what I'd say?**

**Kate: Authors note.**

**Me: I'd say 'I'm sorry'. Sincerely. I was lazy, and didn't update, and I am genuinely sorry.**

**Kate: I'm in a note.**

**Me: NOT the end.**

**Kate: Hey, look, an update!**

**Me: Seriously though, I am SO sorry for not updating. December was a very busy month for me and I bought Skyrim. But now we're back and better than ever!**

**Kate: And kicking and screaming!**

**Me: What?**

**Kate: Like I want to be here…**

**Me: THEN LEAVE!**

**Kate: Nope, my new-years resolution is to bug you even more than last year.**

**Me: and mine is to get you to go away!**

**Kate: Not gunna happen.**

**Me: Great. Anyway Happy New Year and I promise it will never take this long for a chapter again! Also thank you xXKatinessXx for the awesome picture and congratulations on winning the contest! Now for a new contest, whomever can spot the VERY mild Skyrim reference in this chapter gets their user name mentioned in the next chapter! Now for the poll;. Because it took me so long I have a three-way poll:**

**Console users: Xbox or PS3?**

**PC users: Windows or Mac?**

**Youtube watchers: Commentary or no commentary?**

**Answer whatever way you play Portal! For me it's Xbox and Mac. Please review! **

**Kate: Bye!**


	19. Dinner Date

**A/N:**

**Me: all right, let's get this show on the road!**

**Kate: woo.**

**Me: The results are in and the answers are…Windows, PS3, and Commentary.**

**Kate: yay?**

**Me: You are being very anti-climatic, you know that?**

**Kate: *blank stare***

**Me: okkk then. About the "find the mild Skyrim reference" in the last chapter thing…no one got it. What I was referring to is when Lance said, "You lead, I'll follow." Which is one of Lydia's commonly said lines. But don't fret, there's another thing for everyone to do that the end of this chapter (non-Skyrim related)!**

Amy and Lance had been going out for about a month now. GLaDOS had calmed down about the idea quite a bit, but Sara was still acting strange. Amy still didn't like going out where there were lots of people and had never even said two words to Sara.

Until recently.

"You want what?" Lance yelled.

"You heard me, bring Amy over for dinner." Sara ordered.

"Why, on earth, would you want that?" Lance asked. "You've never even met her!"

"That's my point." Sara said. "Tomorrow night, she will come here for dinner."

"I know you don't want this just to meet her. You don't care that much." Lance said. "What's the real reason?"

"You're right, I don't." She said. "But you needn't think about what the real reason is. Just get her over here tomorrow at 5:50. Got it?" Lance didn't say anything. "What's the hold up?"

"I just…don't think it's a good Idea. Amy's not exactly a people person."

"Then make her one for a night." Sara said harshly. She walked away, dismissing the conversation.

Lance probably would have fought more if he hadn't just woken up and was still half asleep. "Oh boy…" He said under his breath, "she is not going to like this."

A few hours later, in one of the labs in Aperture Science, Amy sprayed a beaker with the fire extinguisher one more time just for good measure.

"And that is why you always check what tube you pick up before you pour anything into it!" GLaDOS yelled.

"Um…s-sorry." Amy said, putting the fire extinguisher down.

"And maybe next time, this is just a suggestion, when a chemical fire breaks out, we don't hide under the desk and almost kill everyone."

"Well I did grab the fire extinguisher…eventually." Amy protested.

"Yes, after I yelled at you to go get it!" GLaDOS said. She sighed. "Do we need to have the speech again about how the lab can very easily be a deadly weapon?"

"No, Ma'am'." Amy said.

"Clean this up and report back when you're done." GLaDOS said, "You still have more school to do."

"All right." She said. Amy got to work cleaning the lab while GLaDOS secretly got some testing in with Atlas and P-body. Her urge to test had grown a lot recently, for reasons she did not know. The itch had always been there, but it seemed to die down a little when Amy came along. Now, for some reason, it was coming back. Her concentration was broken when Amy walked into the room.

"I'm done. Ready?" She asked.

GLaDOS thought for a moment. "You know what; you've already done Science and Math for today…why don't you have the rest of the day off."

"What?" Amy exclaimed. "You've NEVER done that before. Are you alright?"

"Me? Oh I'm perfectly fine." GLaDOS assured her. "Just…fine."

"Uh, ok, if you say so." Amy said, knowing better then to go against her word. She left the room, wondering, _"What was that all about?"_

Amy went outside after that odd event; she wanted to clear her head. She found herself pacing in the wheat field. She ran into someone, jumped back and screamed. Amy was in a panic until she realized…

"Oh, Lance, it's you."

"Yeah…what are you doing out here?" He asked.

"Just…thinking." She replied.

"Yeah, me too." Lance said. He looked down and a silence fell on them.

"Well, what's on your mind?" Amy asked.

"Life." He said, finding a seat on the ground. "What about you?"

"Not much different." Amy said.

"But I am glad I found you." Lance said, standing back up. "Walk with me for a minute?"

"Ok." They walked off, and Lance started talking.

"So, I've gotten the impression that you don't like people very much."

"Smart boy." Amy said sarcastically.

"But you're ok with me…"

"yes."

"And no one else?"

"That's how it looks, yes." Amy said shyly.

"What do you think of Sara?" He asked bluntly.

Amy was surprised by the unexpected question. "I've only seen her for two seconds. In my opinion… well, she's a human! They're all the same. No offense."

"Just to be clear, you DO know that you are a human, right?" Lance said

"Lance…" Amy said between her teeth.

"Ok, ok. Sorry." Lance had not expected her to take it so seriously.

"What were you getting at?" Amy asked.

"Listen Amy, Sara wants you to come for dinner, tomorrow night."

"What?" Amy exclamed, stopping in her tracks. "There's no way that's happening!"

"Amy, please! She really wants to meet you."

"Why does she care?" Amy asked.

"That's what I want to know…but Amy please! I promise I'll make it up to you."

"Lance, I don't," Amy started to say, until she looked him in the eyes. He looked sincerely worried. Amy was trying to resist, but she knew what it was like to live with someone who wouldn't take no for an answer. She sighed. "I'll…. ask Aunt GLaDOS if I can come, sound good?"

Lance looked elated. "Thank you! I promise I'll make it up to you!"

"Oh you'd better." Amy said angrily. "And don't get too excited, Aunt GLaDOS will probably say no."

Later that day…

"What do you mean 'Sure'?"

"Amy, now is not a good time." GLaDOS said. "The re-assembly machine is jammed and the gel station is backed up. If it gets you to help me fix it, yes you can go to the dinner."

"But I…" Amy started to say.

"GO!" GLaDOS snapped, paying her no more attention.

"This is NOT my day…" Amy mumbled as she walked out of the room.

The next day Amy was fixing her hair for the dinner and Wheatley was behind her. He was rambling on about something, but Amy was not listening to a word. Finally she spoke up.

"Wheatley," She said, "What's wrong with GLaDOS?"

"Wrong? I don't see anything out of the normal."

"Oh something is VERY out of the normal." Amy replied.

"You're going to have to be more specific." Wheatley said.

Amy, growing more frustrated with the entire situation, gave up. "Never mind." She said, brushing her hair one last time before standing up. She had decided to wear black pants and a nicer long sleeved shirt. It was perfect because it looked business-formal, but it was also easy to run in, just in case.

The elevator ride up was even more uneasy. GLaDOS usually made a comment about what she was wearing (mostly because Caroline told her to). They went along the lines of "Doesn't that look a bit too warm for July?" Or, more commonly, "Go put on a jacket. Now." But this time, not one word. This night was not off to a good start, and it was only 5:30.

Amy met Lance at the curb like they always did. She painted on a smile and tried to salvage the only reason she came out of her room tonight, him.

"You look nice." She said, noticing he was wearing a tie and dress pants instead of the usual jeans and T-shirt.

"Sara made me wear it." He replied bluntly. He was stiff today, as his day had not gone much differently than Amy's. Sara had been acting completely abnormal all day. Making sure the house was spotless, cooking, and making sure Lance was dressed appropriately. She never did any of that unless it was an important business dinner, and at that she kicked Lance out of the house half the time. The last thing Sara would do is go to such great lengths for her adopted-son's girlfriend. Something wasn't right here either.

Amy's smile vanished. "Oh, ok." She said, bemused at his answer. They made their way over to Lance's house.

They stopped at the door. Lance sighed as he opened it. He liked Amy, he really did, but he was NOT looking forward to this evening.

Sara wasn't at the door or in the living room when they walked in. Lance waited a moment, and then called for her.

"Sara!" He yelled. There was silence for a moment, then Sara came scurrying out of the kitchen wiping her hands on her apron. She smiled at them, making Amy even more uneasy.

"Oh look who came!" She said, overly-peppy "It is so nice to meet you!" Sara ran over to Amy and hugged her, but Amy could feel that the hug was cold, so she didn't hug back. "I am not quite done with dinner yet, so you just make your self at home, ok?" Amy nodded. "Good. Lance, please come with me."

"Um, ok." Lance said. They walked off, and Amy sat on the couch thinking, _"So this is what a normal house looks like."_

In the kitchen, Sara had a mood swing.

"HOW could you bring her here so early?" She harshly whispered.

"Early? It's 5:45!" Lance protested.

"I told you to be here at 5:50!" Sara said, "Never mind! Just, take the lasagna out of the oven." Lance rolled his eyes and grabbed the oven mitt.

"Is the table set?" Lance asked as he put the tray down.

"Yes, go get the girl."

"Amy."

"Whatever."

Lance sighed. He went into the living room to see Amy franticly looking around the room. He mustered a smile and walked over to her. "Ready?" he said as happily as he could.

Amy looked up at him and half smiled. "Yeah." She said as she stood up. She walked with Lance back into the kitchen, which had an overwhelming smell of burnt cheese and over-cooked soup.

"Dinner is served." Sara said, again overly peppy. "Go ahead and take a seat." Lance pulled out a chair for Amy and then for Sara. Lance sat next to Amy and Sara sat across from them.

"So, Amy," Sara started while Amy filled her plate, "I haven't seen you around, where do you live?"

"I-I don't live in town." Amy said quietly.

"Well what town are you from them?" Sara persisted.

"Privately owned land. It's a couple dozen acres." Amy answered.

"Wow. How did you get that?" Sara asked.

"My family use to own a business. It was successful at the time."

"Oh. What company did they own?"

Amy thought for a moment before replying, "You know it really doesn't matter, you probably have never heard of it anyway."

"Try me." Sara said a little harshly. Amy was caught off guard and they were all silent for a moment.

"You know what Amy," Lance said laughing, "I heard the weirdest thing in science class today."

"Oh, really, what?" Amy said, smiling and relaxing a little.

"Uh, well, we were talking about the periodic table and," he paused to awkwardly laugh, "do you know the sign in for unununium is?"

"I memorized the table when I was 8." Amy said.

"Oh, well the sign is uuu." He laughed, but everyone else was silent. "I mean, how crazy is that?" No one said a word. Lance coughed to try to cover it up, but it was too late.

Sara shook her head and looked back at Amy, "So you like science?"

"Yes, it sort of runs in the family." Amy said proudly.

"Me too!" Sara replied. "Fascinating, isn't it?" Amy nodded. "You know, I knew your mother."

Amy looked up and her face showed shock. "You did?"

"Um, I don't think that that's a good topic right now." Lance said.

"No, it's ok." Amy told him, she then looked back at Sara. "How?"

"Small town, everybody knew everyone." Sara said "As a matter of fact, I was your mothers best friend."

"I was under the impression that my mother didn't have any friends."

"Oh we were the best of friends!" Sara replied. "It was…. so hard to see her go." Sara put on her best act to make it look like she was moments from tears. "Which reminds me, whose care are you under?"

"I…I beg your pardon?"

"Who's your legal guardian?"

"I'd rather not say. Just a member of the family."

"On your Mothers side?"

Amy was silent for a moment. She was taken back by the question and was starting to feel like she was being interrogated. Lance noticed too.

"Amy, you're looking a little pale, are you feeling alright?" He said. Amy actually looked fine, but Lance was giving her a chance for an out.

"Nonsense! She's fine!" Sara said happily.

"Actually, I haven't been feeling well lately." Amy lied, taking Lance's out.

"You know, maybe we should do this another day." Lance said, getting up and starting to get Amy's coat off of her chair.

"Yes, I think so too." Amy said standing up as well.

"Are you sure?" Sara asked, bolting up and following them towards the door.

"Yes, I'm sorry. Maybe some other time." Amy said as nicely as she could as she stepped out the door. Sara and Lance stood in the doorway. "I'll walk myself home. Talk to you later, Lance." Amy took a few steps away from the house, then when she heard the door shut, took off her shoes and sprinted home.

Inside Lance's home, Sara was livid. "You…you IDIOT!" She yelled. She took a few deep breaths and said to her self "Calm down Sara, she'll come around. These things take time." She took another deep breath before turning to Lance and saying, "Lance go clean up the mess in the kitchen." Sara then scurried off into her office. Lance looked over at the mess of a dining room. Sara wasn't happy, but that didn't matter to him. All that mattered was that Amy stayed safe.

**A/N:**

**Kate: GIVE ME ONE LOGICAL REASON!**

**Me: WILL YOU STOP?**

**Kate: Put me in the story and I will!**

**Me: NO! Besides, why are you so persistent about this? You have a fan now.**

**Kate: What are you talking about?**

**Me: In the reviews, someone said that they liked you.**

**Kate: Oh….o….HI THERE! Let's see….I was born September 7th, 1995 (though my character born date was May 5th, 2010). I love reading and science, I also-**

**Me: AND that's enough of that. Hi readers! Ok, so a few things, I have started a personal blog on tumblr, it's calico118blog then dot tumler dot com. If you have a question for me or you just want to read my reviews for games and stuff then that's where you need to go! Also if you play Skyrim I have just posted the first chapter to my Elder Scrolls fanfiction so go check that out!**

**Kate: can we get to the poll now?**

**Me: Actually, I have a better idea! What I want you all to do is tell me a idea you have for a personality core. It can be a core like yourself or it can be completely random! I will pick my favorite 3 and they will be featured in a upcoming chapter!**

**So, here is your quest:**

**1. Leave me a review about what you thought of this chapter**

**2. (optional) Tell me an epic core idea!**

**3. Go check out/follow my personal blog**

**4. (optional) Go check out my Skyrim fanfic.**

**Me: ok bye bye for now!**

**Kate: byeeee! **


	20. The Underground

**A/N:**

**Me: Hi everyone!**

**Kate: YO!**

**Me: Ok, so I want to start out by saying that WOW you guys submitted a LOT of awesome core ideas! **

**Kate: But there is something she forgot to mention… **

**Me: Well the thing is….this is Chapter 19….and…well…..the "core" chapter will happen in chapter 20.…..so yeah.**

**Kate: But that just means if you think of any more feel free to comment!**

**Me: Exactly!**

**Kate:…..This authors note is too cheery. **

It was 5:00 in the morning on Saturday and most of the world was fast asleep, including Lance. Saturday had always been his favorite day. Sara was out of the house all day, no school, no homework, and his favorite… sleeping in. This day would go a bit differently.

He had always been a light sleeper, so the sound of small rocks hitting his window woke him up instantly. He slowly got out of bed and stumbled to the window. He opened it, then realizing that the sun had only barely come up. Looking down, he saw Amy standing in the street.

"What are you doing?" He asked, trying not to wake the whole town.

"Get down here!" She yelled. He rubbed his eyes and stumbled back into his room. Lance threw some clothes on and went outside to meet Amy.

"Good, you dressed well. Let's go!" She said before turning around and running off.

"Wait-" Lance started to say, but she was long gone. He sighed and ran after her. He meet up with her at the elevator.

"Took you long enough." She remarked.

"Well I'm sorry. My agility doesn't kick in until 10." He said sarcastically while stepping onto the elevator.

"What time do you usually get up?"

"On Saturday? I don't know, 11 maybe. Why?"

"If you sleep in until 11 then how could you possibly prove your hypothesis about not being able to move quickly until 10, correct?"

Lance rubbed his eyes again. "Wait…what?" He said with a yawn.

"I mean have you ever tested it? Have you ever woken up at say…9 and waited to see when you could react properly?"

"Amy, when was the last time you left the house?"

"A few weeks, why?

"Leave again." He said, now waking up more. "So why am I here?"

"She didn't want me to go alone." Amy replied with a growl.

Lance started to ask, "Alone? Go alone where?" but before he could finish, the elevator came to an abrupt stop, throwing him back a little. "This isn't the normal floor." He said.

"I know. Let's get going." Amy said as she stepped off the elevator.

Lance couldn't see most of the floor in front of him, as the only light was coming from the elevator, and he could only make out the back of Amy's head.

"Ok, I'm still new here," He said, "Just so I can get even a little sense of where I am, where's GLaDOS?"

Amy reached for a flashlight that was fastened to her belt. She shined it on Lance, to which he squinted and turned away. When he finally did look back at her, he saw that she was pointing up.

"Ok, how far up?"

"Oh, about 500 meters above us." Amy said as she turned around and started inspecting the room. Lance did the math in his head and knew that 500 meters converted to about 1,640 feet.

"Ok, so what are we doing here?" He asked as he went behind Amy and started to follow her.

"Currently, I'm looking for the light switch." She said as her hand made contact with a wall and she started feeling it.

"That's it?"

"Well, no." Amy said. Her hand came across a large red, glass box hanging on the wall. She opened the glass and pulled the lever. As soon as she did, huge circular florescent lights came on in rows, and the room's vastness showed itself. It stretched as far as the eye could see, and was filled to the brim with rubble. Only one path was cleared, and the room smelled of rusting metal and old asbestos.

Lance was so lost in awe of how big it all was, he didn't even notice that Amy had run off until she yelled, "Lance you have to come see this!" He snapped back to reality and went to go find her. He found her knelling over and looking at something with a smile on her face.

"Do you know what this is?" She asked, excitement running rapid through her voice.

"A…. cube?" Lance said, leaning over to get a better look at it.

"Not just any cube, this is the very first model for the companion cube!" Amy said, "And she said mom took the last one." Her hand stroked the heart plate.

"I didn't send you down there to get distracted." A voice that seemed like it came out of nowhere said. Lance jumped back and Amy pulled a communicator from her belt.

"Sorry." She said into it while standing up.

"Now I don't know how far down you'll have to go to find it, and if you go too far we'll lose signal. I'm already not getting a good reading." GLaDOS said.

"We'll be quick." Amy replied before putting it back on her belt. "Come on." She said to Lance, serious again.

"No, not until you tell me what's going on."

"Man, you're testy today." Amy said, turning to him. "If you must know, we have had some…anomalies happening down here."

"Anomalies? I sort of want more than that."

"Ok," She said, turning around. "But let's keep moving." She walked away and proceeded to tell him the rest of the story.

"Up ahead are a few old offices, I'd say they were built sometime in the 60s. We use them for storage."

"So you've been down here before?"

"Well no. Atlas and P-body do all of the dirty work." Amy said.

"Who's-"

"Anyway," She interrupted, "We put old papers down here and lately they've been…. disappearing. We have no clue where they went."

"So we're going to catch a thief." Lance said.

"Well, just see what's going on. It's highly unlikely it's a burglar."

"So why am I here?"

"You know, just in case something happens…"

"So I'm here to be expendable!" He exclaimed.

"Well, not EXPENDABLE. Just, an EXTRA."

Lance's jaw dropped. "Were you born with this selfishness, or was it drilled into your brain?"

"Hey I WANTED to go alone! Aunt GLaDOS made me take someone along!"

"Why didn't you just take one of the other people you mentioned?"

"Atlas and P-body? No, they're robots. She wouldn't let me take one of them. Something about you having faster reaction time or something."

Lance ran his hand down his face. "This…this is insane."

"Listen, my mom went down here by herself, injured, alone, and lived to tell about it. You'll be fine. WE'LL be fine."

Lance was about to say something, but at that moment they reached an office door.

Amy picked up her communicator and spoke into it. "What's this lead to?"

"That would be the back entrance to the offices'. " GLaDOS replied. "Our problem is on the other side, but this will lead you to it as well, it just might take longer."

"Alright, we'll take this way." Amy replied as she put it back on her belt.

The room that they entered was again dark. You could hear dust kicking up as Amy opened the door. They coughed while Amy found the light switch. The lights turned on one row at time, extending all the way down the hallway. There were rooms every few feet, and piles of papers and rows of filling cabinets.

"Interesting history to this hall, actually." GLaDOS said, even though Amy didn't pick up the device. "These aren't offices, but are actually where the employees slept."

"You hired live-in employees?" Lance asked, while peaking his head in some of the rooms.

"It made for more efficient work schedules." GLaDOS replied. Amy was also checking rooms, but less diligently than Lance. Most of the rooms had two twin beds, but a few had one king, as some of their employees were married.

Aperture never really cared much about nepotism. All they cared was if the job was done, and it was done right. Though their ignorance came back to haunt them…in the form of neurotoxin.

They walked down about 3 more hallways until there were no more hall lights. Amy shined the flashlight up at the ceiling to see that there were more florescent lights.

"Dang it." She said. "The light switch is probably on the other side of the hallway, and that is a long way away."

"Guess we'll just have to use the flashlight now, huh?" Lance said.

"Guess so." Amy replied, "So don't go too far away from me. Because, you know, you don't need to be getting lost."

"Uh huh, right." Lance said, smiling at her.

"Humph." Amy said, not amused as she turned around and kept walking.

As they walked down more hallways, other strange things started to happen. Papers would randomly fall off of shelves, which Amy blamed on the fact that they were walking by which made a crosswind. But Lance knew she was using science as a safety net.

"Hey," Lance said after a long silence, "how many people died here?"

"What? Why on earth would you ask something like that?"

"Because I want to know something…."

"Um, test subjects or scientists?"

"Altogether."

"Oh, thousands probably. Why?"

"Well, you know, lots of strange things happen-" At that moment a broom to the left of them toppled over and fell with a loud "BANG" as it hit the ground. Amy screamed and ran to grab Lance. She shined the light on the broom and they both watched in horror as it was dragged into the darkness.

Lance quickly turned to Amy to see her face absolutely ashen. Her mouth was open but nothing came out. She dropped the flashlight and fell onto the balls of her feet. Amy hunched over, put her hands to her ears and buried her head in her legs.

"Amy!" Lance yelled as he got down to her level. "Amy, are you ok? You know I was joking about the whole 'ghost' thing, right? I'm sure there is a perfectly good, scientific explanation for what we just saw." He said that even though he couldn't think of one.

Amy wouldn't budge. Lance tried saying everything scientific his brain could come up with, even tried asking questions, but she didn't even flinch. He eventually gave up and did something that terrified him just as much…he called GLaDOS.

He pulled the communicator off of her belt and started to speak. "Hey, um, I think we have an issue."

"What is it? What's wrong? Where's Amy? Is she ok?"

"Well, Amy's fine physically, but I'm not really sure what's going on in her head."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"It means she's curled up in a ball and I can't get her to move no matter what I do."

"What was happening right before she did that?"

"A broom fell down and was dragged away but there was no one there. It was very paranormal." Lance said while peaking around the corner.

"I see."

"So what happened? This doesn't seem like her at all." He asked.

"It isn't. Amy is one of the bravest people you'll ever meet. But, like most humans, she has two very large underlying fears. Humans, and anything spirits or the dead."

"Has this ever happened before?"

"Once, when she was very, VERY young."

"So how do you fix it?"

"You don't. You just have to wait it out."

"And how long does that take?"

"Not very long, she'll snap out of it soon." GLaDOS lied. In reality, the last time this happened she was down for hours. "The closest exit to you is in the way you were headed. If you want, try to coax her into moving."

"How do you propose I do that?"

"Try… talking about her mother."

"Wouldn't that just make the situation worse; being reminded of someone who actually is dead?"

"It's either that or you wait. Your call."

And with that, Lance heard the "Click" of the receiver, signaling that the conversation was over. He sighed, not entirely sure what to do. He bent down to her level and put his hand on her back. He felt her flinch.

"It's ok, it's ok. It's just me." He said, starting to rub up and down her back. "Listen, I know why your scared of all those things. You're not scared of human beings; you're scared of not knowing an outcome. You grew up in a place where the events of everyday were pretty much the same, but the human variable, well, that's a whole new game. A game you're not really ready to play yet, are you?"

There was a long silence before a muffled voice said, "I'm insane, aren't I?"

"No," Lance said, moving his hand under her chin so he could prop it up and she could look at him. "Just new."

Amy stared into Lance's eyes for what seemed like forever. He seemed so calm and patient. She found herself leaning closer to him, and he was doing the same. His hand moved up to her ear as she closed her eyes and tilted her head to rest in his palm. Amy could feel her lips about to touch his when her eyes sprung open. She grabbed the flashlight and bolted up.

"I think we're almost there, we'd better keep moving if we want to get this done." She said as she started to walk off, just as if nothing had happened.

Lance laughed a tiny bit and whispered, "Atta girl" under his breath. He got up and continued to follow her.

The rest of the trip down the hallway was silent. Amy was completely ignoring what almost happened, and Lance was just wondering if she was ever going to say anything about it, or if he should just let it go. Walking into Amy broke his train of thought, as she had stopped in front of a door without him noticing.

"Is this it?" He asked.

"I think so." She replied as she shined the flashlight on the wall next to them. Lance looked over and saw that they had made it to the end of the hallway, and that this door was last. Amy walked over to the wall and searched it for a light switch.

"Anything?" Lance asked.

"I think…"Amy started to say as her light caught something next to the other corner. She flipped the switch and, just like before, the florescent lights came on in rows. Amy looked over at Lance with relief on her face.

Lance smiled and looked back to the door in front of him. He then noticed that it was VERY different from the others. Most of the doors were metal, but this one was large and mahogany with a small rope design around the edge.

"Who's room was this?" Lance asked.

"Someone important, apparently." Amy commented.

"The boss?"

"No, he lived upstairs." Amy said as she went to move the handle, only to find that it was locked.

"Is it locked?"

"Yes, but…" She said as she grabbed something out of her pocket. "I have the master key."

She put the key in the hole and slowly started to open the door. She peaked her head inside and, when she didn't see anything, proceeded to step in. Amy reached over to the light switch and found that it didn't work.

"Open the door all the way," She told Lance, "There should be enough light from the hallway to fill the room up enough."

Once they were both inside, they saw that the extravagant door hadn't lied about its contents. In the back of the room was a large master bed, and to the side of the room was a fireplace with two large adorned chairs in front of it. A sizeable dresser was parallel to that, and the floors were hardwood with an elaborate red rug.

"Wow." Lance said, as he couldn't think of any other words to describe what he was seeing. Amy walked in further and Lance followed. "So how do we know this is where all these strange things came from?"

"The readings said it was the end of this hall, and this is the only room." Amy walked over to the dresser, "And I know this is off topic, but see if you can find any indication on whose room this may be."

"I think I found an indication." Lance said from the other side of the room. Amy paced over to see that above the fireplace was a large portrait of a lady. "Who's that?" Amy took a closer look at it and her eyes widened when she recognized the face. She stepped back in shock. "Amy, who is it?" Lance asked in slight panic, as he did not want to have a repeat of what happened earlier.

"That's…. which means this is…and I'm…" Amy stuttered. Her back hit the dresser as she looked around even more franticly. "This is Caroline's room." She finally said.

"Caroline?" Lance asked. "Ok, once again, who's that?"

Amy sighed. "Long version or short?"

"Short please." Lance said, he didn't really want to be down here much longer.

Amy paused for a moment before speaking. "Caroline is my grandmother, and is currently inside GLaDOS."

"Wait she's…. what?"

"Brain mapping. It's something Aperture came up with long ago. It essentially allows a humans brain and personality to be completely downloaded into a computer, but it kills the body in the process."

"Wow, that's, um…"

"Sick? Twisted? Horrid? Yeah, I know."

"I was going to go with interesting, but those work too." Lance said, baffled by this whole explanation. "So, is she, you know, dead?"

Amy laughed a small, stressed laugh. "Who knows? I guess both."

"Both dead and alive? Huh, sounds familiar…" Lance started to say as he backed away from the picture to get a better look at it. As he was stepping back, his foot tripped over something and he fell. Amy walked over to him.

"Are you alright?" She asked, helping him up.

"Yeah, I just tripped over this…" He said as he picked up a broomstick.

"Isn't that…" Amy started to say as she felt her spine tense up again. At that moment, she felt something small bump into the back of her leg. She screamed, jumped in the air and ran towards the bed. "W-w-w-w-what was that?"

"What was what?" Lance said looking franticly at the floor but, because it was so dark, he couldn't see much. Amy frenzied to find her flashlight on her belt and pulled it out. She started darting the beam it all over the floor in a desperate attempt to find something. She finally held the light still and looked over at Lance.

"Maybe we should get out of here." She said, her voice shaking.

"No, wait," Lance said, looking down at the light, "look."

Amy looked down to see that something was walking into the beam. What they saw shocked them.

"It's…a dog." Lance said.

"Yeah…yeah it is." Amy said. The dog was white with gray patches on his head, back and tail. The bottom of his snout was gray while the top was white, and he appeared to be wearing a bandana.

"Did you know about this?" Lance asked.

"No, what I'm wondering is how does it live down here?" Amy replied. At that moment, the dog walked over to Amy and sniffed her leg. When he was done, he looked up at her, jumped on her leg and started pawing at her.

"I think he wants you to pick him up." Lance said. Amy nodded and handed her flashlight over to Lance. She bent down and picked him up, and he started licking her face.

"I think he's lonely." Lance said while laughing.

"You think." Amy said, laughing all the same. She was able to pull him away and looked at his bandana. "Hey," She said, "Lance come look at this." Lance walked over to her. "Do you recognize that symbol?"

"It looks familiar…"

"That's because it's the same as on the companion cube!" Amy exclaimed. She turned the bandana over to see that it was embroidered. "Lance, I can't read this, what does it say?"

"It says," He started to say while looking closely at it, "Buddy."

"Buddy? Think it's his name?"

"Probably." Lance said. He walked back over to the broom to now see that it had bite marks on it. "Look," he said "he was probably using this as a chew toy."

"So YOU were the one who did that!" Amy said looking at Buddy. He whimpered and licked her face again. "But," she said, "That still doesn't explain where all the papers went."

Buddy jumped down from her arms and ran to the corner of the room. Lance followed him and then looked back at Amy.

"Well," He said, "Two things. One, this is a REALLY well trained dog. Two, I REALLY hope you didn't need those papers."

Amy thought for a moment before she finally understood what he was saying. "Oh." She said.

"Ok, but I want to know two things." Lance said. "One, how did he live this long with no humans?"

"He is an Aperture dog, who knows what chemicals are running through him. In fact, he may not even be a real dog."

"Ok, then question two would be how he got in this room if that door was locked up tight?" Amy shrugged and looked around the room once more. It was then that she saw another door, and this one had a doggy door on it. She pointed to it and Lance looked. "Ah."

"So, I guess we figured out what was causing all of this." She said. Buddy ran back over to her and she picked him up again.

"Are you going to keep him?" Lance asked.

Amy looked down at Buddy. It was then that she realized that he had bright pink eyes that almost looked sad right now. "I-I have to try." Buddy's eyes lit up and he started wagging his tail profusely. He jumped down again and went into a hollowed out Companion cube that was made into a doggy bed. He came out with a blanket in his mouth and started for the front door. He stopped and looked back when he noticed that they weren't following.

Lance laughed. "I think someone wants to go."

"Um, can you guys wait in the hall for a second, I won't be long." Amy said. Lance nodded as he and Buddy walked into the hallway. Amy looked around the room once more and then opened a drawer on one of the nightstands. Inside was an assortment of old papers. What caught her attention was a sepia photo at the bottom of the pile. She pulled it out to get a closer inspection.

It was Caroline, probably just 17 years old, standing outside a house with what were probably her parents. She was smiling, it seemed as if she didn't have a care in the world.

Amy put the picture in her pocket and stood back up. She looked in a few more drawers until she found a leash. Amy took it out and went into the hallway to find Lance and Buddy standing by the door. Lance smiled when he saw Amy.

"Ready?"

"Yeah." Amy replied. She bent over and connected the leash to Buddy's bandana. "Let's go."

They took the long way back (as it turned out the other way back was blocked) and it took about an hour. They were silent most of the way until they were almost at the elevator.

"Lance?" Amy said quietly.

"Yeah."

"I want to tell you something before we're in ear shot of Aunt GLaDOS."

"Shoot."

"What happened earlier, or, what ALMOST happened earlier, was a mistake. I wasn't in my right mind and I don't want to speak of it again, understood?"

"Loud and clear." Lance said, a little dissapointed.

"One more thing…"

"Yes?"

"Don't mention Caroline. You're not supposed to know and saying anything could get you killed."

"Got it." He said as they stepped on the elevator. It was cramped so Amy picked Buddy up and held him close. He put his head on her chest and slowly fell asleep to the drone of the elevator.

When he awoke, he was on a bed in a well-lit room. He could hear water running in the background, and when he looked up, he saw a large round core with a blue eye staring at him from the ceiling. Buddy jumped back and heard the water stop running. Amy ran in from the bathroom and looked up at Wheatley.

"Wheatley, will you stop scaring him? You're going to make him have an accident on my bed."

"What did I do?"

"Thank you for watching him. You can leave now." Amy said. Wheatley left the room and Amy grabbed Buddy off of the bed. She walked into the bathroom with him and he saw the tub was full of water and the curtain was pulled back. She put him in and started pouring water on his fur.

Normally whenever Caroline gave him baths, he would protest. But he hadn't had one in so long, this felt like heaven.

Amy was surprised by his obedience. She knew most dogs wouldn't stay in a tub long enough to even get their feet wet, let alone a whole bath.

Convincing GLaDOS to keep Buddy was also surprisingly easy. It was most likely due to the fact that both Amy and Caroline were asking her to let him stay. GLaDOS said he could stay if, like the birds, Amy did all the work. Amy didn't mind, she was just happy she got to keep him.

Once she dried him off, Amy put her sleepwear on and put Buddy in a small, cardboard bed with a pillow and his blanket in it.

"I know it's not your cube, but it will have to do for now." She said. Amy kissed him on the head before going to her bed and turning the lamp off. It wasn't long before she felt something jump onto her bed, circle a few times, and lay right next to her. "Or, you know, you can just sleep there. That works too."

**A/N:**

**Kate: 2 months Elizabeth. 2 MONTHS!**

**Me: I know, I know. I'm sorry. What happened was I started on a different chapter and got about half way through it before I decided I didn't like it so then I had to start over with this one. So, anyway, if you guys don't know who Buddy is, he is the companion cube dog thought up by the awesome Jaimep on Deviantart (Sparky16 here on fanfiction) and if you don't already know Buddy then go look him up because he's…. awesome. Also yes I know he has a friend seal but I don't think I will be adding seals' to this story anytime soon, even if they are awesome.**

**Kate: *ahem***

**Me: OH right, the poll, sorry. Who would win in a fight? Chell or Alyx? All right I'll get the next chapter done soon! Bye for now!**

**Kate: Bye!**


	21. So Many Cores

**A/N:**

**Me: Well, time for a very special chapter!**

**Kate: Because…?**

**Me: Because I have chosen the cores that will appear in this chapter! All of the cores you submitted were awesome BUT I could only chose 3 so here you go!**

**Kate: And the winner to the poll was…Alyx. Big shock, she survived an apocalypse with a guy who couldn't talk.**

**Me: Though, Chell survived a moron and a potato that wouldn't shut up.**

**Kate: Touché… **

Amy sat at her desk and looked out the window.

"12 years." She mumbled. She looked over at the picture she had of her and her mother, and leaned back in her chair, running her hand down her face.

Today marked the 12-year anniversary of Chell's untimely death.

Buddy slowly walked up to Amy and jumped up on her legs. He whimpered as he laid his head on top of her knees.

"It's ok." Amy said as she ran her hand down his head. "I'm fine." She picked him up and held him close as a tear ran down her cheek, which Buddy licked.

Amy laughed. "Thanks," she said as she put him back down. "Hey, wanna' go for a walk?" She asked excitedly. To that, Buddy wagged his tail and got his leash off of her bed. He walked back over to her and put it in her lap.

She laughed again as she put her shoes on. Amy grabbed her phone and followed buddy out the bedroom door and into the hallway. They got about halfway to the elevator before the intercom blasted "Amy, come in here."

Amy leaned down to buddy and said, "Go to the elevator, I'll be there in a minute." He barked and ran off. Amy walked into GLaDOS' chamber and leaned up against a wall.

"What is it?" She asked. "I was just about to go out and…"

"We need to talk." GLaDOS said, turning off the monitor and turning to her.

"About what?" Amy asked, sitting down on the floor.

"About you."

"What about me?"

"Amy, you're going to be 17 in just a few months and…I need to know what your plan for the future is."

"I have a plan?"

"Well, you're not going anywhere before you're 18 but, after that, what are you going to do?"

"I didn't have any plans on leaving, if that's what you're implying."

"Yes, but what about college? And this boy?" Amy tilted her head in confusion. GLaDOS sighed, "Amy, the last thing I want you to do is leave. I would like to know, however, if you had plans for anything else."

"That's more than a year away, why are you worried about that now?"

"I've been around for a long time, a year really isn't that long."

"Well, I don't have any plans…but I'll let you know." Amy said, more confused than ever.

"Good. You're dismissed." GLaDOS said, turning around and turning the screen back on.

"Mind explaining what just happened first?"

"Excuse me?"

"I just don't understand why you would ask that all of the sudden."

GLaDOS sighed and half turned to her. "Think about the date, Amy."

"It's the day mom died, you think I don't know that?"

"12 years. It's also been 12 years since you started living here."

"and?"

"And I just want to make sure that I'm," She paused, "That you're being raised the way she intended."

"Oh, ok." Amy replied, still thinking that none of this made any since whatsoever. "Well, I'm going to leave now…" She said as she started backing out of the room. She made it back into the hallway and sighed. "That's the 7th odd thing she's done this week." Amy mumbled. "What on earth is wrong with her?" Buddy walked up to her and poked his head around the corner to look at GLaDOS.

"I wish I could talk to Caroline." Amy said, under her breath. Buddy looked up at her and whimpered. She looked down at him and smiled. "I'm sure it's fine. Come on, let's go." And with that she put buddy's leash on him and walked towards the elevator.

Once in the field, Amy's mind wandered. Her thoughts still on GLaDOS.

"_It just doesn't add up." _She thought _"A few months ago she let me off of school early, and let me go to Lance's house with no fight. Then she sends me to the bottom of the facility with practically no help, which she NEVER would have done before. What's going on?"_

Her phone ringing in her pocket broke her thoughts. She took it out to see that it wasn't GLaDOS' number, but it was still from a computer.

"That's strange." She said. Amy opened the phone and held it up to her ear. "Hello?"

"AMY YOU HAVE TO COME QUICK!"

"Wheatley? How did you get my cell phone number?"

"Amy please come back I need help!" He said, his voice drowning in panic.

"Hold on, what's going on?"

"Just please I- no no NO! I didn't mean to-" And then it was cut off. Amy was silent for a moment. What was going on? What was he talking about? Is something wrong with GLaDOS? Amy looked down at Buddy, who was staring back at her, and said "Sorry Buddy, I think we have to cut the walk short today." She picked him up and sprinted towards the elevator.

One thing that made Amy relax a little was that the elevator worked fine, and that no alarms were going off. Her chest still felt tight, though.

Once the elevator stopped, Amy bolted out of it and ran for GLaDOS' chamber. She was surprised to see a very angry looking GLaDOS with Wheatley hanging in front of her.

"I didn't mean to, really!" He pleaded.

"It doesn't matter if you meant to or not, it still happened!" GLaDOS seethed. "I should have killed you when I had the chance!"

"NO, please! This is a small mistake that can be easily corrected, right?"

"YOU are a small mistake that should be corrected!" She yelled, a yell that knocked Amy back a few steps.

Wheatley looked over and said, "OH look, it's Amy. You wouldn't do anything overly-violent in front of her, would you?"

"Would someone like to tell me what's going on?" Amy yelled.

"It was an honest mistake, really!"

"Ok, what mistake?" Amy asked.

"First off," GLaDOS started, looking at Wheatley, "YOU are not allowed to talk! Second," She looked down at Amy, "His 'honest mistake' just happened to be releasing some of the reject and corrupted cores from the bin!"

"You did what?" Amy exclaimed, looking over at Wheatley.

"And now they're running ramped through the facility." GLaDOS said, looking back to Wheatley. "And they won't stay still long enough for me to catch them."

"How many are there?" Amy asked.

"10 got out." GLaDOS replied. "Morality, Anger, Intelligence, Curiosity, Adventure, Space, Fact, Duty, Mechanic, and Worry."

"Have you gotten any back?"

"Only Morality. The rest are still somewhere in the facility."

"Why would I care where they are?" Amy asked. The way Aunt GLaDOS worded her last sentence worried Amy.

"Because you are going to go get them."

That was exactly what Amy was afraid of. "Why me?" She asked. "Make the moron who made this whole mess clean it up!"

"Believe me if I could, I would." GLaDOS replied "But I'm afraid he's TOO moronic to fix this. He's never going to be able to get them all back and we'll be stuck hearing it for the rest of our lives. So, unfortunately, you have to deal with it."

Amy shot a death glare at Wheatley, to which he looked away, pretending not to notice. "Fine." Amy sighed, "But he owes me!"

"You two can settle that on your own time. For now, you need to get to work."

"On it." Amy said as she left the room, Buddy following. On the outside she was ok with this, but her thoughts were more like, _"HOW on EARTH does she expect me to find all of them by myself? The management rails' go all throughout the facility!" _

She found herself standing at the core bin. "Best to start looking where they got out right? Maybe some of them didn't get too far."

"Ok, so, Space is probably going to be with Curiosity, Anger could be anywhere, Intelligence will probably be near the Kitchen, Rick is probably going to be near GLaDOS' chamber, Fact will probably be near the library, and I don't really know anything about the other three." Amy said. She looked down at Buddy who tilted his head at her. "You'll help me, right?" She asked. To that Buddy wagged his tail and barked.

"Well, at least there's one reliable person." She said, patting his head. "So, lets go!"

Most of them were easy to find and catch. Space and curiosity were caught just in time as they were heading for the roof. Rick was gawking at GLaDOS from behind a panel; he was so distracted that he didn't even see Amy come up behind him.

"So," Amy said as she threw Rick in the bin, "We've caught Morality, Space, Curiosity, Fact, Intelligence, and Rick. Which just leaves Anger, Worry, Mechanic, and Duty. I guess now we need to…" She was cut off by Buddy barking behind her. "What is it?" She asked as Buddy ran down a hallway. Amy ran after him and, as they approached the end of the hallway, started hearing a very loud noise. She couldn't quite peg what it was but, whatever it was, it was mad.

"What on earth…" She started to say, but was cut off when she saw a bright red optic shine in the corner. "Must be Anger."

"Hey," Amy said, starting to slowly walk towards it, "I'm not going to hurt you," To that, it whipped around and looked at her. "But you really need to go back in your bin now, so I'm just going to take you there." As she said that, she put her hands on him. When she did, however, he began yelling again and rolling around franticly in his casing. Amy gripped onto him as hard as she could, but had to let go when her finger was jammed between his inner and outer casing.

"Ow!" She yelled as she stepped back. "He….he bit me." Amy said in disbelief. "Alright fine, you wanna play that way, then we will." She grabbed onto his top handle and propped her foot up on a wall. She pulled as hard as she could until she realized that he was moving forward on the rail, and he was taking her with him! Amy tried to let go but was quickly pulled into the tunnel. She screamed as she pulled her feet up and, then realizing that they were going downhill and increasing speed, gripped harder onto his handle.

Amy closed her eyes and put her head down, hoping not to hit any low-hanging beams. She held on for what seemed like forever until he finally stopped. Amy looked up to see that she was in a control room. She quickly let go and fell a few inches to the ground, only to look up and see the Anger core speed away.

"Dang it!" Amy said. She looked around the room to see that it was the turret control room. "The elevator's a 20 minute walk from here." She added with a sigh.

"No, no, no! It shouldn't be angled this much!" A very gruff, male voice said from behind her. Amy felt as if she might have a heart attack as she jumped back and up against a wall. To her surprise (and relief) she looked up to see that there was a core with a lime green optic looking over the production line.

"Excuse me." She said to it, only for it to not even glance her way. "Excuse me." She said again, but still nothing. "Metal ball." Amy said, growing frustrated with it. "HEY!" She yelled, walking closer to him. He finally did look down at her, half of his casing covering his optic, showing that he was not pleased.

"Can I…help you?" He asked.

"Who are you?" Amy asked him.

"Why I'm the Mechanic Core. I oversee the production lines and keep things running smoothly around here." He said proudly.

"I thought that was Wheatley's job."

"Wheatley? Why, that idiot couldn't make a single-cell battery let alone keep this place running. Heck, he practically IS a single-cell battery!" He said as he started rolling in his casing with laughter.

"Not that I don't completely agree with that statement, but I sort of need you to come with me."

"No-can-do kiddo, sorry." He said. "Gotta' get back to work and you should probably go find you're parents or something. You can't be running around the facility freely, least the boss catch you. And let me tell you that if she gets mad at you, I am NOT taking the grunt work for it! You're on your own kid, and I warned ya'."

"Well, that's the thing." Amy said. "She told me she wanted to speak with you urgently."

"Who are you, anyway?" He asked.

"Let's just say…I'm her assistant. She wants to see you immediately. I'll take you to her, if you'll just come down."

"How do I know I can trust you?"

"Come on, would I lie to you?" Amy said while smiling up at him and holding out her arms. He dislodged himself and Amy caught him. She carried him out into the hall and yelled, "I got him!"

"Good. Now just connect it to one of the computers, I'll take it from there." GLaDOS replied.

"Wait a minute, what's going on here?" He asked in panic. Amy set him down on a table and connected a USB cable to him. Within seconds, he was off.

"Just 3 more to go." She said as she unplugged him. "Can I just leave him here?"

"No! Take him back to the bin where he belongs!" GLaDOS replied.

"But he's so heavy!" Amy whined.

"Amy…" GLaDOS growled.

"Fine." She said, picking him up and starting to walk off. The walk back to the elevator was long and silent, which just stirred Amys' thoughts up more. _"I use to be her number one priority." _She thought_, "What changed?"_

Close to tears, Amy walked faster towards the elevator. To her surprise, when she got to the shaft, it was empty.

"What the…" She started.

"Just wait a moment," GLaDOS said. "We had a bit of a hold-up on this floor."

"Hold up?" Amy said, "What kind of…" At that moment the elevator came down and stopped. When the doors opened, they revealed Buddy standing inside, looking up at her and wagging his tail.

Amy smiled and crouched down. She put her arms around him as he started licking her face. "Ok Buddy, thank you, thank you," She said while trying to move away. He jumped out of her arms and walked back into the elevator, to which she followed him.

To get from the elevator to the rejected core bin, you have to walk past Amy's room. Whenever she leaves her room in the morning, she closes her door. So when she walked past it and the door was open, she immediately backed up and looked in. She looked up at the ceiling to see a core over her bed.

"Ug, Moron," she said, "I thought I told you to…" The core looked down at her, "Whoa you're not Wheatley."

"Quite not." It said. Her optic was, again, light green and she had a heavy English accent.

"Who are you?" Amy asked.

"My name is Eliza, however my function is the Duty core. I tend to the Testing Subjects and make sure that they are accommodated."

Wheatley rounded the corner into the room. "Amy, I heard that you…" He stopped cold when he saw Eliza. "Oh, hello."

"Well, it's been quite some time, hasn't it?" She said, her voice changing from the peppy tone she was using when speaking with Amy to a more melodramatic one.

"Yes, I suppose it has." Wheatley replied.

They stared at each other for a moment before Eliza said, "Well, I best be off." And with that, she sped out of the room.

"What just happened?" Amy asked.

"She should have been the first one you put up." Wheatley said. "She's nothing but trouble."

"She seemed nice." Amy replied. "I didn't see anything wrong."

"You didn't because you just meet her." He said as he started to back out of the room. "Just… put her away as quickly as possible." And with that he sped off.

Amy walked back into the hallway to find Eliza in the next room over, trying to clean it with hands that came from her body.

"Hey," Amy said, "I kind of need you to come with me."

Eliza turned to her. "Oh, yes mam' " She said as she started to leave the room. "How may I help you?"

"You need to go back to the core bin."

She was silent for a moment. "Oh." She said mournfully, "It's…probably for the best."

"I'll walk with you, if you want." Amy said, almost feeling sorry for it.

"I couldn't ask you to do that. You need to get back to the testing tracks, and it wouldn't be very lady-like on my part to distract you."

"I'm not a test subject." Amy said. "I'm GLaDOS' assistant."

"I thought your living quarters looked a bit nicer than most."

"So, I'll just go with you." Amy said as they started walking towards the bin.

The whole time they were walking, Amy couldn't shake the feeling that they were being watched. She kept looking back but always saw nothing. That was until a very loud 'crash' sounded behind them. They both turned around to see Wheatley looking down at the pile of rubble he had just knocked over.

"Uhh…I can fix this." He said.

"Moron…" Amy seethed.

"YOU STUPID TWIT!" Eliza yelled, speeding towards him. "You've been following me this entire time! You never change! You are always too destructive and reckless! The bloody [REDACTED] is wrong with you?"

"_Proper lady, huh?" _Amy thought in disbelief.

"I..I didn't mean to…"

"YOU, clean it, now!" She yelled.

"How exactly do you want me to do that?"

"Figure it out!" She yelled again before going back to Amy. "I'm sorry," She said, her voice calm again. "Where were we?"

"What was that?" Amy asked.

"I can explain." GLaDOS suddenly said.

"When did you join the conversation?" Amy asked.

"Do I ever leave?"

"Touché."

"The two of them worked on the same floor back when the facility still had scientists in it. They had these encounters often, and I had to hear every single one of them." She said with frustration.

"Well that explained…. a little."

"And there's the fact that he's always been a moron, so he just annoys everyone no matter what he's doing."

"I don't now how many times I have so say it….I. AM. NOT. A. MORON!" He yelled.

Simultaneously, all 3 of them said, "Yes, you are." To which he sighed and looked down at the mess.

"Hey, Aunt GLaDOS," Amy said, "What time is it?"

"5:30, why?"

Amy looked back down at Buddy, "If I hurry this up, we can finish our walk." She said to him. Buddy wagged his tail and barked. "Can you see if you can find Anger or Worry?" He barked again and ran off. "Well that should speed things up a little." She looked back up at Eliza. "Uh, we should go."

"Quite right." She said, speeding off.

They made it to the core bin and Eliza dislodged herself, and Amy put her in the bin.

"Only two more." She said, walking off.

Buddy found Anger shortly after and this time Amy knew to hit the kill switch before she tried to mess with him. They hit a snag when trying to find Worry. After about an hour of searching, Amy knew she was running out of sunlight. She promised to look for him more when she got back so GLaDOS let her take Buddy out before it was dark. While they were going up, the elevator abruptly stopped.

"What gives?" Amy asked.

"There's…some sort of obstruction is the shaft. Just wait a moment, I'll send a nanobot." GLaDOS replied.

Amy sighed and leaned up against the side. She was silent until she heard a small, quiet voice that seemed to come from nowhere.

"What the…" She said as she looked around. Amy noticed that the noise was coming from above her. She grabbed the hatch on the ceiling and pulled it. As she did, a core fell to her feet. She jumped back and Buddy sniffed it.

"How did you find me? Was it the Turret? I bet it was the turret! I should have never told him my location!"

"Worry, I presume?" Amy asked.

"How do you know me? What's the dog for? I bet he's going to kill me! That's your plan, isn't it? To get me calm and then BAM! Well it's not going to work! Or will it? What if you try to kill me with water? Oh no, my weakness, STOP! I'm going to die…" He said. His voice was higher pitched than the others, and almost sounded female. His optic was purple, and he was looking around the elevator franticly.

"Hey, Aunt GLaDOS…" Amy started to say.

"Yes, I see." She replied as the elevator started to descend. "Just bring him to my chamber, I'll put him up."

"Thank you." Amy said.

"Who was that?" He asked; then he gasped. "That was GLaDOS, wasn't it? Oh nonononononono this is BAD! She's going to kill me for sure! I'm going to DIE!"

"I'm not going to kill you." GLaDOS said, annoyed. Amy picked him up and started to carry him out.

"You're lying! You lie to me, to test subjects, to everyone! I'm dead." Amy laughed a little as she rounded the corner into GLaDOS' chamber. She put him down and, almost instantly, GLaDOS grabbed him and whisked him out of the room. Amy started to walk out but suddenly turned around started walking quickly towards GLaDOS.

"Do you need something…" She started to ask, but was cut off by Amy wrapping her arms around her. She stayed there for a long, quiet moment before letting go and walking towards the door.

When she made it to the beginning of the hallway, she turned around and said, "I love you."

"I…love you too." GLaDOS replied, slightly puzzled. Amy nodded and left the room. Buddy was still waiting in the elevator, but he had heard the whole conversation. When Amy reentered the elevator he sat on her feet and looked up at her.

"What?" She asked. He jumped up to her and she picked him up. "I wonder about you sometimes." She said as she petted his head. He just stuck his tongue out and wagged his tail. Amy laughed and held him close. "But, I still like you all the same."

**A/N:**

**Me: AG! So many feelings in this chapter.**

**Kate: Seriously! First they're sad, then they're angry, then sad again, then happy and WHAT'S GOING ON!**

**Me: You'll all see soon enough. Anyway, hi readers!**

**Kate: Hello!**

**Me: So, again, took me forever but I hope you like this chapter! The three cores I used were courtesy of **_**Me and my Alter Egos Inc**_** (Mechanic), **_**Sonic Speed Blue Blur 23 **_**(Duty**__**a.k.a. Eliza), **_**Crutisimo**_** AND **_**PyroPotter **_**(worry) because you both submitted pretty much the same idea so I kind of just mixed them together. **

**Kate: But like we said in the beginning of the chapter, we loved every idea that was submitted!**

**Me: That's right! Ok, how about some polls!**

**Kate: I'm sorry was I supposed to pretend to be excited? Hold on, *coughs* woo.**

**Me. Ha. Ha. Ha. ANYWAY so here you go: did you find out about Portal because you played Half-life, or did you find Half-life because you played Portal? **

**Kate: You do know that Portal came in the same box as Half-life 2, right?**

**Me: I know, but maybe they played Half-life before the 2nd one came out, or maybe they didn't know about the awesomeness of Portal until Portal 2 came out. Could go either way.**

**Kate: right….**

**Me: Well, that's it for this chapter. Remember, answer the poll and PLEASE leave a review on the chapter, too! I like to hear what you think!**

**Kate: See you later!**


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